I think we have to think of software like books and writing. It is about conveying information, and while there are grammatical rules to language and conventions around good and bad writing, we're generally happy to leave it there because too many rules is so constructive as to remove the ability to express information in the way we feel we need to. We just have to accept that some are better writers than others, or we like the style of some authors better.
That would make sense if code was written solely for the enjoyment of its readers, but it isn't.
Code uses text, sometimes even natural-language prose, but isn't like "books and writing". It has to communicate knowledge, not feels. It also ultimately have to be precise enough to give unambiguous instructions to a machine.
In this sense, code is like mathematical proofs and like architectural blueprints, which is a different category to drawings, paintings and literature. One is about shared, objective, precise understanding of a problem. The other is about sharing subjective, emotional experiences; having the audience understand the work, much less everyone understand it the same way, is not required, usually not possible, and often undesirable.
