Premature Wrapping Drives Me Crazy

Posted June 24, 2006 * Comments(1)

Looks like there could be evidence that premature wrapping may make your code harder to read: How Long Is Too Long

I can’t stand reading Java/C# code wrapped at column 80.  There are just way too many method calls and parameter lists split over multiple lines.  It interrupts my flow and dramatically impacts my productivity when reading other peoples code.

One of the beautiful things about leading teams is in a case like this you can enforce your preference :)

1 Comment so far

  1. Dave B on June 25th, 2006

    Over at Coding Horror, Big B makes a good point about wrapping at column 80:

    “We have standardized on 80 columns because we spend a lot of time reviewing code revision changes side by side using a difference viewer. Viewing differences side by side becomes much easier when the code is written in a narrow column.”

    It makes sense, but I spend more time editing and reading single files than doing diffs, so I’m still a 80+ man.

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