pcf@drux3.UUCP (FryPC) (02/21/84)
[] One solution to the problem of comments running off the end of the page with deeply nested programs is to reduce the amount of blank space before the line. I think that a reasonable limit for readable programs is a nesting limit of five levels. If you use `standard' tab-stops of every eight character positions then you use up half your screen before you type anything. If you indent by (say) three characters per level you have plenty of room not only for comments but also for your program. When this was suggested to me I thought it would make programs unreadable, look ugly and squashed. After a few weeks I began to like it and now I write all my programs with tabs set to every three character positions. This includes programs written in FORTRAN, C, BCPL, PASCAL, OCCAM and various JCLs. I have tried other tab settings, three seems to be the best. If your editor will allow you to change tab stops, try it, you will like it. Peter Fry