Enforcing the formatting
Professional developers generally follow rules. They say that senior developers know when to break one (as they can justify the need to). On the other hand, it is said that very senior developers don't break rules because it's a waste of time having to keep explaining their reasons to others. I say, pick your battles and focus on things that actually matter and have a tangible impact on the product.
When it comes to coding style and formatting, programmers are presented with a myriad of choices: should we use tabs or spaces for indentation? If spaces, how many? What is the limit of characters in a column? How about in a file? Such choices don't impact the behavior of the program in most cases, but they do generate a lot of noise and start lengthy discussions that don't bring much value to a product.
Some practices are commonly agreed upon, but most of the time, we're debating personal preference and anecdotal evidence. After all...
