I think the line between minutiae and craft is drawn by the effect it has on the product you're creating. Method length makes your code more manageable, for example. Placement of line breaks, not so much.
At the end of the day, we aren't paid to produce code, but working software that works today and is easy to change tomorrow.
That is a purely commercial take of the matter. I don’t think it’s controversial to argue the artisans who stand out do so because they care for the craft itself. Spending an extra hour or two perfecting the shape of the armrest in the chair may not allow you to earn more money from that one commission, but it might improve your knowledge and skill and be slightly more comfortable to the sitter. If they comment on it and appreciate it, so grows your motivation and pride.
Sometimes the code itself, and not its result, is the product. For example, when making tutorials the clarity and beauty of the code matters more than what it does.
I’m not arguing for obsessing over code formatting, but pointing out the line between “master of the craft with extensive attention to detail” and “insane weirdo with prioritisation deficits focusing on minutiae” is subjective to what each person considers important. Most of us seem to agree that being consistent in a code base is more important than any specific rule, but that being consistent does matter.
At the end of the day, we aren’t paid to eat healthily and taking care of our bodies either. But doing so pays dividends. Same for caring about the quality of your code. Getting in the habit of doing it right primes you to do it like that from the start in every new project. Like most skills, writing quality code becomes easier the more you do it.
That's kind of my point: the end cannot see, or feel, minutiae. If they can, it's not minutiae.
> Sometimes the code itself, and not its result, is the product. For example, when making tutorials the clarity and beauty of the code matters more than what it does.
The code still isn't the product in that instance. It's the educational process. In many cases, clarity != beauty. This is why the best written tests often duplicate code, rather than being curated exercises in DRY.
> we aren’t paid to eat healthily and taking care of our bodies either
Yet programmers insist to be paid. Obviously taking time to grow on your own, on your own dime, is self-enriching for all the reasons you describe.
this is my biggest beef with linters. i break lines following typography rules and poetry, using the line break to help communicate. hate it when the linter takes away my thoughtfully chosen line break, because i broke it there to improve readability. i seem to be the only person in the world who cares about the line break of code. other style things idgaf but you can use typography and poetry rules to improve the readability of your code.
At the end of the day, we aren't paid to produce code, but working software that works today and is easy to change tomorrow.