Re: 80 char lines and holerith cards [Was:Which code style do you prefer the most?]

On 01.04.2025 05:46, Jakob Bohm wrote:

[...]

 
Another likely inspiration at the time would be the number of
characters per line on ordinary office paper of the period using
ordinary typewriters of the period. [...]

Yes. Just as an addition; my typewriter has a ruler ranging from
column 0, 10, 20, to 80 - where the numbers were indicating the
left and the right bounds of the characters; i.e., 1st character
was between 0 and 1 - thus 80 columns total. As you say that was
also the standard width of the paper we use here (DIN A4, 21 cm).
The typewriter was used with configured soft bounds to not start
at column 0 on the left side but to keep some indent space and
also on the right side. Moreover the ruler continued a few (four)
characters before the column 0 mark and also after column 80; it
was possible to "unlock" that space on demand to exceed the soft
limit, or also the hard limit in case non-standard paper of larger
width would have to be used.

But it's noteworthy to mention that there were also typewriters
with wider carriages existing; I saw one in a tyres manufacturing
company. But these types were obviously rarer. I don't know whether
it's been used to type on A3 or on landscape A4 or on other paper.

Janis