All the similar opinions are just because of developed habits. It the char limit was 60, then you’d be opinionated on 60. As for multiple windows, just use virtual desktops, zoom text out, alt+tab, multiple monitors, high-resolution monitor, etc.
To be clear, I’m not stating that reading a 160 char line is AS easy as reading an 80 char long one, but nowadays, we usually do not use rather short variable names for example, nor really short statements. The era of MOV AX, B (assembly), and GOTO 44 is pretty much gone. Often we have statements such as
for (let j = 0, l = alternativesStructure[i].optionCodes.length; j < l; j++) {which by itself is 84 char long, not to mention indentations beforehand. The reality is, that over time, code developed to be more explicit, because we don’t have the memory limitations of the old era. It’s simply annoying to have to break a simple IF or FOR condition into 2 lines, just because it’s a few chars longer than the ‘standard’ limit.
