I'll put in a vote to try to clear the air by apologizing if only for the results if not the underlying dispute.

It sounds like you ended up causing your coworker a fairly large amount of grief over a relatively minor technical dispute. It sounds like you were technically correct. But you can still apologize for the results because it sounds like the impact is grossly disproportional to the underlying issue. You say that it hasn't damaged your career which implies that it has (at least potentially) damaged your coworker's career over something that's a pretty venial coding sin. From your coworker's perspective, it could realistically look like you were looking for a reason to throw them under the bus from the time you came over to the new team and you finally found it. That could well be causing them to expect that they need to look for something that you've done wrong if only to protect themselves.

It doesn't have to be terribly long. But I would take the coworker aside and say something like

"Hey coworker. I just wanted to clear the air with you. I'm sorry that I ended up bringing management down on you. That wasn't my intention. I should have found a better way to work through the work through our disagreement. I'm sorry."

Of course, even if you're totally sincere, there is no guarantee that the coworker is going to stop looking for reasons to return the favor and throw you under the bus. But ideally, you can convince him that you're not out to ruin his career over relatively minor dispute and de-escalate the situation.

You should still make sure that you are following every last element of your company's coding standards, development processes, etc. and you should make sure that you're documenting your interactions in case something comes back on you. But a solid apology may improve the atmosphere at work substantially.

I'll put in a vote to try to clear the air by apologizing if only for the results if not the underlying dispute.

It sounds like you ended up causing your coworker a fairly large amount of grief over a relatively minor technical dispute. It sounds like you were technically correct. But you can still apologize for the results because it sounds like the impact is grossly disproportional to the underlying issue. You say that it hasn't damaged your career which implies that it has (at least potentially) damaged your coworker's career over something that's a pretty venial coding sin. From your coworker's perspective, it could realistically look like you were looking for a reason to throw them under the bus from the time you came over to the new team and you finally found it. That could well be causing them to expect that they need to look for something that you've done wrong if only to protect themselves.

It doesn't have to be terribly long. But I would take the coworker aside and say something like

"Hey coworker. I just wanted to clear the air with you. I'm sorry that I ended up bringing management down on you. That wasn't my intention. I should have found a better way to work through our disagreement. I'm sorry."

Of course, even if you're totally sincere, there is no guarantee that the coworker is going to stop looking for reasons to return the favor and throw you under the bus. But ideally, you can convince him that you're not out to ruin his career over relatively minor dispute and de-escalate the situation.

You should still make sure that you are following every last element of your company's coding standards, development processes, etc. and you should make sure that you're documenting your interactions in case something comes back on you. But a solid apology may improve the atmosphere at work substantially.