Our coding standards encompass more than just syntax; that's the silly, whatever, "let's just define something that works for everybody" part of our coding standards. Such standards are pretty much arbitrary; their value is in their very existence and compliance.
We should also define some very high-level principles to keep in mind, such as DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and YAGNI (You Ain't Gonna Need It). The actual repertoire of principles we should try to adhere to is debatable. Basically, we always follow the officially defined ones, unless we can find a sound argument not to. We can document some of those arguments here, if they pop up a lot, or when they're really important. There are many.
- PRG.
- SOLID.
- Coding and design patterns.
- GoF.
- Error handling.
- Control flow.