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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Code Review
  4. Code Review
  5. PMD vs Prettier

PMD vs Prettier

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

PMD
PMD
Stacks46
Followers111
Votes0
GitHub Stars5.2K
Forks1.5K
Prettier
Prettier
Stacks13.2K
Followers1.3K
Votes7
GitHub Stars51.1K
Forks4.6K

PMD vs Prettier: What are the differences?

<Write Introduction here>
  1. Syntax Rules: PMD focuses on finding syntax errors and coding style violations through static code analysis, while Prettier is primarily a code formatter that focuses on formatting code according to a set of rules without analyzing syntax errors.

  2. Languages Supported: PMD supports a wide range of programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, XML, and more, while Prettier is mainly focused on formatting JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, and JSON.

  3. Customization: PMD allows for customization of rules and configurations to suit specific coding standards and project requirements, whereas Prettier comes with a predefined set of formatting rules that cannot be extensively customized.

  4. Integration with IDEs: PMD can be integrated with various Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) and build tools like Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and Apache Maven, while Prettier can be integrated with editors like Visual Studio Code, Atom, and Sublime Text.

  5. Output and Recommendations: PMD generates reports with detailed information about found issues and provides recommendations on how to fix them, whereas Prettier directly formats the code without providing any specific feedback about potential issues.

  6. Community Support and Updates: PMD has been around for a longer period of time, hence it has a larger community base for support and frequent updates, while Prettier is a newer tool that is gaining popularity and continually improving with updates.

In Summary, PMD is focused on detecting syntax errors and style violations through static code analysis with customization options, while Prettier primarily serves as a code formatter for specific languages with limited customization and feedback features.

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Advice on PMD, Prettier

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 ;)

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

PMD
PMD
Prettier
Prettier

It is a source code analyzer. It finds common programming flaws like unused variables, empty catch blocks, unnecessary object creation, and so forth. It includes CPD, the copy-paste-detector.

Prettier is an opinionated code formatter. It enforces a consistent style by parsing your code and re-printing it with its own rules that take the maximum line length into account, wrapping code when necessary.

supports multiple languages; enforce a coding standard for your codebase; built-in checks
An opinionated code formatter; Supports many languages; Integrates with most editors; Has few options; You press save and code is formatted; No need to discuss style in code review; Saves you time and energy
Statistics
GitHub Stars
5.2K
GitHub Stars
51.1K
GitHub Forks
1.5K
GitHub Forks
4.6K
Stacks
46
Stacks
13.2K
Followers
111
Followers
1.3K
Votes
0
Votes
7
Pros & Cons
No community feedback yet
Pros
  • 2
    Customizable
  • 1
    Open Source
  • 1
    Completely free
  • 1
    Runs offline
  • 1
    Follows the Ruby Style Guide by default
Integrations
Gradle
Gradle
Windows
Windows
Java
Java
Linux
Linux
macOS
macOS
GraphQL
GraphQL
JavaScript
JavaScript
TypeScript
TypeScript
Flow
Flow
Vue.js
Vue.js
AngularJS
AngularJS
markdown
markdown
YAML
YAML
Less
Less

What are some alternatives to PMD, Prettier?

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.

ESLint

ESLint

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

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.

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