Why does PEP-8 specify a maximum line length of 79 characters?

Keeping your code human readable not just machine readable. A lot of devices still can only show 80 characters at a time. Also it makes it easier for people with larger screens to multi-task by being able to set up multiple windows to be side by side.

Readability is also one of the reasons for enforced line indentation.

I am a programmer who has to deal with a lot of code on a daily basis. Open source and what has been developed in house.

As a programmer, I find it useful to have many source files open at once, and often organise my desktop on my (widescreen) monitor so that two source files are side by side. I might be programming in both, or just reading one and programming in the other.

I find it dissatisfying and frustrating when one of those source files is >120 characters in width, because it means I can't comfortably fit a line of code on a line of screen. It upsets formatting to line wrap.

I say '120' because that's the level to which I would get annoyed at code being wider than. After that many characters, you should be splitting across lines for readability, let alone coding standards.

I write code with 80 columns in mind. This is just so that when I do leak over that boundary, it's not such a bad thing.

I believe those who study typography would tell you that 66 characters per a line is supposed to be the most readable width for length. Even so, if you need to debug a machine remotely over an ssh session, most terminals default to 80 characters, 79 just fits, trying to work with anything wider becomes a real pain in such a case. You would also be suprised by the number of developers using vim + screen as a day to day environment.

Printing a monospaced font at default sizes is (on A4 paper) 80 columns by 66 lines.