Here at work, we write code in a programming language called Python. Since there is more than one person writing code in this language, we have a standard of conventions to follow — things like “always put a space after a comma in a list of function variables”, etc.

Well, one of the more asinine standards (which means “things that you have to do to write correct code” according to my project manager) that we have adopted is maximum line length. If you are writing some code and the line exceeds 78 characters, then you have to reformat that line to break into two lines.

This has some advantages — namely that the code is printable without unexpected formatting behavior — but also is a colossal pain to remember to do, and ends up making a longer-than-average-but still-elegant line look nasty and choppy. IMO.

Things like this should be guidelines, not standards.

<breath>
OK. Done :)