I think Doug Hoyte put it best: "An auxiliary theme of this book, one that applies to any programming language, is that in programming, style is not something

I think Doug Hoyte put it best: "An auxiliary theme of this book, one that applies to any programming language, is that in programming, style is not something to pursue directly. Style is necessary only where understanding is missing." For instance, as a python programmer, I find it intensely annoying when people don't follow PEP 8 and might complain about it. But the fact that it's the most important thing on my mind means that I haven't really understood the code. Unless the violations are truly flagrant (such as putting commas in the left margin rather than after the word), then move on with life. We programmers have enough to worry about without having to nitpick over others' paren placement.