>Do please note that this excerpt in Code Complete is summarizing
>Richard J. Miaria, et al in the 1983 "Program Indentation and 
>Comprehensibility" article in Communications of the ACM 16, no 11 (Nov).

So we're talking 2-column indentation on lineflow paper (132-column
line-printer paper with column ticks at the head and footer?)
Or vt100 displays, or what?

>Last I heard, CACM was a reviewed journal, well-respected in the field.

In the 70s, sure.  Last I heard, CACM was a glossy mass-market "IT
professional" magazine which many researchers see as junkmail.  Some
were literally cancelling their ACM membership in order to stop
getting it.  The transition begain in the mid-80s. From very rusty
memory, I think CACM in 83 was already glossy-magazine format, still
worth reading (programming pearls) but already clearly not the same
quality as the previous "serious journal" format.

Sure you're not thinking of the JACM?