From: nor...@mech.eng.usyd.edu.au
Subject: Re: How long can a statement be?
Date: 2000/03/07
Message-ID: <8a44ub$8vk$2@metro.ucc.usyd.edu.au>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 594479621
References: <Pine.SOL.3.96.1000306155954.2656A-100000@cplusplus.gaul.csd.uwo.ca> <uebt4rpwym.fsf@altair.dfrc.nasa.gov>
X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.usyd.edu.au
X-Trace: metro.ucc.usyd.edu.au 952473355 9204 129.78.14.203 (7 Mar 2000 23:55:55 GMT)
Organization: The University of Sydney, Australia
User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-981114 ("The Watchman") (UNIX) (Linux/2.0.36 (i586))
NNTP-Posting-Date: 7 Mar 2000 23:55:55 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran

Richard Maine <ma...@altair.dfrc.nasa.gov> expounded:

: In free source form, a statement can be up to 40 lines long and each
: line can have up to 132 characters.

As a matter of interest, does anyone know why the number 132 was chosen? 
I can understand the origins of the fixed-source length of 72 characters
(punch cards being 80 characters long, less 8 for putting those line 
numbers in the right hand columns), but why 132 for the new source form? 
I would have imagined that computer scientist types would have pushed for
128 (and maybe Cray programmers 129) so why 132?

-- 
Stuart Norris                                   nor...@mech.eng.usyd.edu.au
Mechanical Engineering,University of Sydney,NSW 2006   wk:+(61 2) 9351-2272
http://flo.mech.eng.usyd.edu.au/norris                 hm:+(61 2) 9326-5276