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0 pointsshadowmint12y ago0 comments

Really?

    class Engineer(Person):
        __tablename__ = 'engineers'
        __mapper_args__ = {'polymorphic_identity': 'engineer'}
        engineer_id = Column('id', Integer, ForeignKey('people.id'), primary_key=True)
        primary_language = Column(String(50))

    12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
    ^^ Line length marker

Woops. 2 characters over. Do we really need a line break there?

Guess perhaps I should rename my columns with more obscure names like engnr_id instead.

Seriously; you see this in python all the time; people not wanting to break the line because its only a character or two off, and then stupidly renaming a variable to some obscure abbreviation instead.

We won't go into the 2-character indents argument, or the push for the 100 character limit that the BDFL veto'd for the PEP8 revision; but... safe to say, I think a fair number of people hit this as an issue.

I don't think 'you can just refactor that to be shorter' is really a solution in all circumstances.

0 comments

masklinn12y ago

> Really?

Yes, really.

> Woops. 2 characters over. Do we really need a line break there?

You do what you want.

> I don't think 'you can just refactor that to be shorter' is really a solution in all circumstances.

You don't think the solution I didn't advocate as a cure-all in the first place is a cure-all? Am I supposed to be surprised at this finding?

shadowmintOP12y ago

Well, you specifically said that if someone had gone beyond the 80 character limit, its probably because they needed to rewrite / reword / subfunctionize something. If you've never had a problem with it, dare I ask, how are you qualified to make that call, given you've never had to face that challenge?

Anyway, that example is straight from the sqlalchemy examples, which is arguably (other than the extremely wordy Zope) most commonly used python orm around.

Wordy database interaction is really common point this sort of thing, and it's hard to refactor/rewrite your way out of it; that's the only real point I'm making.

I personally think strict adherence to line length limits reduces code quality; you've got to use common sense for it.

masklinn12y ago

> Well, you specifically said that if someone had gone beyond the 80 character limit, its probably because

Yes. The operative word here is "probably". Meaning not always.

> If you've never had a problem with it, dare I ask, how are you qualified to make that call, given you've never had to face that challenge?

And here we can see an other important word of the original comment: "much" as in "much of an issue". As in, I've faced it, I've never found it very difficult a challenge to go against. Now of course if you pile on additional constraints for personal reasons…

> I personally think strict adherence to line length limits reduces code quality; you've got to use common sense for it.

I have no issue with that, but common sense being a super-power[0][1] and thus generally uncommon. Thus in my experience erring on the side of respecting line length limits and having to defend an exception to the rule produces significantly better results, and avoids 200+ characters lines because "well it fits in my widescreen 24" display so I don't see what the problem is"

[0] http://walls4joy.com/walls/people/deadpool-wade-wilson-commo...

[1] and was likely named by people who had none

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsshadowmint12y ago0 comments

Really?

    class Engineer(Person):
        __tablename__ = 'engineers'
        __mapper_args__ = {'polymorphic_identity': 'engineer'}
        engineer_id = Column('id', Integer, ForeignKey('people.id'), primary_key=True)
        primary_language = Column(String(50))

    12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
    ^^ Line length marker

Woops. 2 characters over. Do we really need a line break there?

Guess perhaps I should rename my columns with more obscure names like engnr_id instead.

I don't think 'you can just refactor that to be shorter' is really a solution in all circumstances.

0 comments

masklinn12y ago

> Really?

Yes, really.

> Woops. 2 characters over. Do we really need a line break there?

You do what you want.

> I don't think 'you can just refactor that to be shorter' is really a solution in all circumstances.

You don't think the solution I didn't advocate as a cure-all in the first place is a cure-all? Am I supposed to be surprised at this finding?

shadowmintOP12y ago

Anyway, that example is straight from the sqlalchemy examples, which is arguably (other than the extremely wordy Zope) most commonly used python orm around.

Wordy database interaction is really common point this sort of thing, and it's hard to refactor/rewrite your way out of it; that's the only real point I'm making.

I personally think strict adherence to line length limits reduces code quality; you've got to use common sense for it.

masklinn12y ago

> Well, you specifically said that if someone had gone beyond the 80 character limit, its probably because

Yes. The operative word here is "probably". Meaning not always.

> If you've never had a problem with it, dare I ask, how are you qualified to make that call, given you've never had to face that challenge?

> I personally think strict adherence to line length limits reduces code quality; you've got to use common sense for it.

[0] http://walls4joy.com/walls/people/deadpool-wade-wilson-commo...

[1] and was likely named by people who had none

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse