[Gretl-devel] Regarding long variable names

[Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007, Allin Cottrell wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Oct 2007, andreas.rosenblad at ltv.se wrote:
>
>> Would it be terribly difficult to let gretl allow longer
>> variable lengths?
>
> Yes.  Basically, it would require that all output-formatting
> routines be re-written from scratch.  With 15-character variable
> names we're at the limit of what we can support using the current
> formats, and given a sensible maximum line length of around 80
> characters.

...which begs the question: is the 80-column limit anachronistic? Please 
note that mine isn't a rhetorical question.

I do agree on the fact that very wide output is unreadable anyway, but the 
80-character limit is in itself a legacy of the punched card era.


Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti
Dipartimento di Economia
Università Politecnica delle Marche

r.lucchetti at univpm.it
http://www.econ.univpm.it/lucchetti