[identity profile] armb.livejournal.com 2009-05-11 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
A Brief, Incomplete ... History of Programming Languages (http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html)
"1940s - Various "computers" are "programmed" using direct wiring and switches. Engineers do this in order to avoid the tabs vs spaces debate."

(And I still think sticking to at least not often going much over 80 helps more than it reduces readability. But I'll settle for 132 as a hard limit.)