I definitely agree with doing formatting/nonfunctional changes independently from other changes. In general all commits should be as focused as possible: have

I definitely agree with doing formatting/nonfunctional changes independently from other changes. In general all commits should be as focused as possible: have one purpose, don't just change whatever else you happened to think of while editing the same file. A "diff" is also incredibly useful prior to a commit to make sure that you changed only what you thought you did. Programmers should go to great lengths to adopt a style that is "diff compatible" so they aren't likely to miss anything important.