Style Guide, not Coding Standards

In Stylish F#, Kit Eason suggests that we create Style Guides rather than Coding Standards to assist developers. A style guide "suggests" or guides rather than mandates, and better encourages creativity and originality while still producing code that is understandable by one's peers.

He suggests that a programming language is much like a human language in that "stylish writing isn't merely an aesthetic exercise: it is also a means to an end, that end being the spread of ideas." With this in mind coding is a method of communication and, good, stylish code communicates well. It then follows that a style guide suggests ways to keep communication clear, not merely rigid rules that eliminate personal style.