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  5. Checkstyle vs ESLint

Checkstyle vs ESLint

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Checkstyle
Checkstyle
Stacks132
Followers107
Votes0
GitHub Stars8.7K
Forks3.9K
ESLint
ESLint
Stacks38.6K
Followers14.0K
Votes28
GitHub Stars26.6K
Forks4.8K

Checkstyle vs ESLint: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Checkstyle and ESLint

Checkstyle and ESLint are popular linters used for identifying and reporting code style issues in Java and JavaScript respectively. While both tools serve the same purpose, there are several key differences that set them apart.

  1. Supported Languages: Checkstyle is primarily designed for Java projects, whereas ESLint is designed specifically for JavaScript. Checkstyle analyzes Java source code, while ESLint analyzes JavaScript source code.

  2. Configuration: Checkstyle uses an XML-based configuration file to define the coding rules and guidelines to be enforced. In contrast, ESLint uses a JavaScript-based configuration file, which allows for more flexible and customizable rule configurations.

  3. Extensibility: Checkstyle offers a limited number of core checks that need to be defined in the configuration file. In contrast, ESLint provides a vast collection of official and third-party plugins and rules, allowing developers to extend and customize the linting rules based on their project requirements.

  4. Integration: Checkstyle is typically integrated with build tools such as Maven or Gradle and is often run as part of the build process. ESLint, on the other hand, can be integrated with various development tools, editors, and frameworks, providing real-time linting feedback during development.

  5. Rule Coverage: Checkstyle focuses more on enforcing coding conventions and style guidelines, such as indentation, naming conventions, and code structure. ESLint covers a wider range of linting rules, including coding conventions, best practices, potential errors, and even security vulnerabilities.

  6. Community Support: Both Checkstyle and ESLint have active communities, but ESLint has a larger and more active user base, which contributes to the availability of a wide range of plugins, rules, and online resources.

In summary, Checkstyle and ESLint differ in their supported languages, configuration methods, extensibility, integration options, rule coverage, and community support. While Checkstyle is more focused on enforcing coding conventions in Java projects, ESLint provides a broader range of linting rules and has better support for JavaScript development.

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Advice on Checkstyle , ESLint

Carlos
Carlos

Mar 14, 2020

Needs adviceonPrettierPrettierESLintESLintgulpgulp

Scenario: I want to integrate Prettier in our code base which is currently using ESLint (for .js and .scss both). The project is using gulp.

It doesn't feel quite right to me to use ESLint, I wonder if it would be better to use Stylelint or Sass Lint instead.

I completed integrating ESLint + Prettier, Planning to do the same with [ Stylelint || Sasslint || EsLint] + Prettier.

And have gulp 'fix' on file save (Watcher).

Any recommendation is appreciated.

465k views465k
Comments
Alex
Alex

Software Engineer

Aug 7, 2020

Review

you don't actually have to choose between these tools as they have vastly different purposes. i think its more a matter of understanding how to use them.

while eslint and stylelint are used to notify you about code quality issues, to guide you to write better code, prettier automatically handles code formatting (without notifying me). nothing else.

prettier and eslint both officially discourage using the eslint-plugin-prettier way, as these tools actually do very different things. autofixing with linters on watch isnt a great idea either. auto-fixing should only be done intentionally. you're not alone though, as a lot of devs set this up wrong.

i encourage you to think about what problem you're trying to solve and configure accordingly.

for my teams i set it up like this:

  • eslint, stylelint, prettier locally installed for cli use and ide support
  • eslint config prettier (code formatting rules are not eslints business, so dont warn me about it)
  • vscode workspace config: format on save
  • separate npm scripts for linting, and formatting
  • precommit hooks (husky)

so you can easily integrate with gulp. its just js after all ;)

159k views159k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Checkstyle
Checkstyle
ESLint
ESLint

It is a development tool to help programmers write Java code that adheres to a coding standard. It automates the process of checking Java code to spare humans of this boring (but important) task. This makes it ideal for projects that want to enforce a coding standard.

A pluggable and configurable linter tool for identifying and reporting on patterns in JavaScript. Maintain your code quality with ease.

Statistics
GitHub Stars
8.7K
GitHub Stars
26.6K
GitHub Forks
3.9K
GitHub Forks
4.8K
Stacks
132
Stacks
38.6K
Followers
107
Followers
14.0K
Votes
0
Votes
28
Pros & Cons
No community feedback yet
Pros
  • 8
    Consistent javascript - opinions don't matter anymore
  • 6
    Free
  • 6
    IDE Integration
  • 4
    Customizable
  • 2
    Focuses code review on quality not style
Integrations
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Java
Java
JavaScript
JavaScript

What are some alternatives to Checkstyle , ESLint?

Code Climate

Code Climate

After each Git push, Code Climate analyzes your code for complexity, duplication, and common smells to determine changes in quality and surface technical debt hotspots.

Codacy

Codacy

Codacy automates code reviews and monitors code quality on every commit and pull request on more than 40 programming languages reporting back the impact of every commit or PR, issues concerning code style, best practices and security.

Phabricator

Phabricator

Phabricator is a collection of open source web applications that help software companies build better software.

PullReview

PullReview

PullReview helps Ruby and Rails developers to develop new features cleanly, on-time, and with confidence by automatically reviewing their code.

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit is a self-hosted pre-commit code review tool. It serves as a Git hosting server with option to comment incoming changes. It is highly configurable and extensible with default guarding policies, webhooks, project access control and more.

SonarQube

SonarQube

SonarQube provides an overview of the overall health of your source code and even more importantly, it highlights issues found on new code. With a Quality Gate set on your project, you will simply fix the Leak and start mechanically improving.

RuboCop

RuboCop

RuboCop is a Ruby static code analyzer. Out of the box it will enforce many of the guidelines outlined in the community Ruby Style Guide.

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io automatically and continuously tracks code quality with every GitHub or BitBucket commit and pull request, helping software developers save time in code reviews and efficiently tackle technical debt.

Amazon CodeGuru

Amazon CodeGuru

It is a machine learning service for automated code reviews and application performance recommendations. It helps you find the most expensive lines of code that hurt application performance and keep you up all night troubleshooting, then gives you specific recommendations to fix or improve your code.

Reviewable

Reviewable

A code review tool for GitHub pull requests inspired by Google's internal tool. Powerful diffing and workflow features wrapped in a beautiful UI, with seamless GitHub integration. Free for public repos.

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