Code Formatting Is Bikeshedding: Consistency Is Overrated

After 47 years of mass-producing bugs, I’ve concluded that code formatting debates are pure bikeshedding. The computer doesn’t care, and neither should you.

The Formatting Wars

Every team wastes hundreds of hours debating:

• Tabs vs spaces
• 2 spaces vs 4 spaces
• Semicolons vs no semicolons
• Single quotes vs double quotes
• Trailing commas vs no trailing commas
• Braces on same line vs new line

Here’s the truth: it doesn’t matter.

// Style A
function foo() {
    return {
        bar: 'baz'
    };
}

// Style B
function foo()
{
    return {
        bar : "baz"
    }
}

// Style C (chaotic neutral)
function foo(){return{bar:'baz'}}

All three do the same thing. Ship it.

The Formatter Tax

With Formatter	Without
ESLint config file	Nothing
Prettier config file	Nothing
.editorconfig	Nothing
Pre-commit hooks	Nothing
CI checks for formatting	Nothing
47 arguments in PR reviews	Nothing
Blocked merges for whitespace	Ship it

As Dilbert’s Wally would say: “I spent the whole sprint configuring ESLint. Technically I was productive.”

The Beauty of Chaos

Why should code look the same? Variety is the spice of life:

# Monday developer
def get_user(id):
    return db.query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?", id)

# Tuesday developer  
def GetUser(ID):
    return DB.Query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?', ID)

# Wednesday developer
def getuser(Id):
    return Db.query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?" , Id)

# Friday developer
def gus(i):return d.q("SELECT*FROM users WHERE id=?",i)

Now you can tell who wrote what! That’s organizational transparency.

XKCD 1513 reminds us that code quality is already undefined—why pretend formatting helps?

The Case Against Linters

Linters are like grammar nazis for code:

$ npm run lint

ERROR: Expected indentation of 4 spaces but found 3
ERROR: Missing semicolon
ERROR: Strings must use singlequote
ERROR: Trailing spaces not allowed
ERROR: File must end with newline
ERROR: Line too long (81 > 80)
ERROR: Multiple empty lines not allowed

✖ 847 problems (847 errors, 0 warnings)

My code works. These are not real problems.

The True Cost of Consistency

Every minute spent on formatting is a minute not spent on:

• Features
• Bug fixes
• Documentation (just kidding, skip that too)
• Going home early

Advanced: The Mixed Indentation Strategy

For maximum team efficiency, use both tabs AND spaces:

def calculate_total(items):
	total = 0  # tab
    for item in items:  # 4 spaces
	    total += item.price  # tab + 4 spaces
  	      if item.discount:  # 2 spaces + tab + 6 spaces
		total -= item.discount  # 2 tabs
    return total  # 4 spaces

This is called “organic formatting.” It grows naturally.

The Editor Config Paradox

# .editorconfig
# Because we need a config file to tell editors how to type

root = true

[*]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4
end_of_line = lf
charset = utf-8
trim_trailing_whitespace = true
insert_final_newline = true

# Except for...
[*.md]
indent_size = 2

# And also...
[Makefile]
indent_style = tab

# But not...
[*.yaml]
indent_size = 2

# Unless...

47 lines of config to control whitespace. Peak productivity.

PR Review Formatting Wars

Actual PR comments from my career:

"Please add a newline here"
"Remove trailing whitespace on line 47"
"Our style uses single quotes"
"Add semicolon"
"Remove semicolon"
"Indent with spaces not tabs"
"Actually we switched to tabs last week"

Meanwhile, the code had a SQL injection. But the formatting was wrong.

The Only Formatting Rule You Need

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│   IF IT RUNS, SHIP IT               │
│                                     │
│   Formatting is for code that       │
│   will be read. This code won't     │
│   be read. Trust me.                │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Remember

Bikeshedding is when you argue about paint colors instead of building the bike shed. Code formatting is bikeshedding. Build the feature.

As Catbert from HR would say: “We’re eliminating the code formatter to boost productivity. Developers will now spend time on actual work instead of whitespace.”

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The author’s codebase has 7 different indentation styles. It compiles.