Re: 80 characters per line / FORTRAN / punchcards
Actually there is another reason for 80 character lines:
If you use nice American letter paper (8.5 inches wide) and print out at 10 characters per inch (common for nice line printers, like an IBM 1403), you use 8 inches of space for the output lines.
So, if you DO document things and print them out (a good idea in my book), 80 character lines and MONO spaced type are nice to have. Sure there are smaller fonts, but as you advance in age (like me), you tend to prefer the nice 10 character/inch type on nice letter paper.
In the older days, you used the same output, but used blue (green) bar paper which was 14 inches wide and 11 inches long, and it had lots of room for the scribblings you made while doing the developing. (been there, done that!).
So, 80 character input lines are a nice thing to have.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
