With a little engenuity, you can keep everybody happy.

Perltidy is configurable. If some of your programmers prefer to code in a style that does not match the "house style", they can set up a configuration that matches their preferred style. If their editor is sufficiently flexible, they can arrange to have whatever file they load converted to their style on loading, and back to the house style when they save it.

That way, everyone has the potential to work in whatever style they find most productive or readable. From experience, there is nothing worse that trying to code to someone elses style--especially if you find the rules governing that style to be stupid or ill-conceived as I do with several of the common "style guides" available for C for example.

One place I worked they required that C code be coded as:

return type
func (
  par1type par1,
  par2type par2,
)
  {
    // line of code
    if (condition) 
      {
        // line of code
      }
    else
      {
        while (((condition1 
               && condition2)
               || condition3))
          {
             // do something;
          }
      }
    return (something);  
  }
[download]

Note: All the parenthesis were mandatory regardless of whether they were required for precedence.

The idea they claimed was:

1. readability through whitespace usage
2. a complete lack of ambiguity
3. productivity through consistancy.

Poppycock I say. I'm a great believer in consistancy, and the use of whitespace, but every line I type to these coding standards erked. Greatly. I would find myself coding my own way, the having to go back over the code to change it to the coding standards.

But then I would have (or be requested) to make another change, so I had the choice. Load up the house copy, re-format it so as I could understand it, modify it, and convert it back. Or risk starting with my local copy and hope that noone else had modified it in the interim. Of course, either is unacceptable.

Using cbeaut file.c @mystyle on GET and cbeaut file.c @housestyle on PUT kept everyone happy.

The only reservation I have with this is I have found that it is possible for PerlTidy to get confused; but it is a rare thing I think. The couple of times it happened, I think I was trying to deobfusicate one of the obfu's posted here.

perl -MO=Deparse obfu.pl is much more reliable for those.