I think I prefer the idea of the style guide, which you might argue is a coding standard, but the use of 'guide' allows for a bit of lenience. Moreover, I thin

I think I prefer the idea of the style guide, which you might argue is a coding standard, but the use of 'guide' allows for a bit of lenience. Moreover, I think one of these things is missing the point if it's entirely about syntax, whitespace, and whatever else can make the code appear readable on the surface. There's no substance to this and the code can still be shite while being 100% conformant. It'll just be formatted nice. What a standard/guide should try to do is serve the dual purpose of educating or informing people about good practices, both in general and while being language specific. Some might disagree or find it patronising, but even if it's only encouraged by colleagues or peers, it can be the sort of thing that makes you think twice about the code you're about to commit. By the same token, using a style guide for that should never be a replacement for a good, collaborative work environment. This is essentially a people problem after all.