Just because using the real characters is unambiguous and has the same size/alignment everywhere. I’d prefer to use those real characters because they are more compact and consistent, but it’s a small thing, so IMHO it’s only worthwhile if the whole team sees the same thing and in all of the tools we use. Relying on ligatures in coding fonts doesn’t achieve the latter and often doesn’t achieve the original goal either, so while some might enjoy them, it’s not the solution I’m looking for personally.