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ESLint vs RuboCop: What are the differences?
Introduction
ESLint and RuboCop are static analysis tools that help developers ensure code quality, enforce coding standards, and identify potential issues or bugs. While both tools serve a similar purpose, there are some key differences between them that make them suitable for different programming languages and ecosystems.
Language Support: ESLint is primarily designed for JavaScript and has comprehensive support for ECMAScript standards. On the other hand, RuboCop is tailored for Ruby programming language and has deep understanding of Ruby syntax, idioms, and best practices.
Configuration Options: ESLint offers a flexible configuration system that allows developers to enable or disable specific rules, define custom rules, and configure rule options. RuboCop also provides configuration options but follows a more opinionated approach with a predefined set of rules specifically geared towards Ruby conventions.
Rule Sets and Plugins: ESLint has a vibrant ecosystem with a wide range of rule sets and plugins available to address specific coding styles, frameworks, or libraries. This extensibility allows developers to tailor ESLint to their specific needs. RuboCop also provides support for plugins and has a variety of predefined rule sets, making it easy to adopt and enforce Ruby conventions.
Integration and Tooling: ESLint integrates seamlessly with popular code editors and development tools and has widespread adoption in the JavaScript ecosystem. It has robust support for IDE plugins, build systems, and continuous integration environments. RuboCop also integrates well with editors and development environments but has a stronger presence in the Ruby community.
Community and Documentation: ESLint has a large and active community, which means more support, frequent updates, and a wealth of documentation and resources. With a strong focus on JavaScript ecosystem, it has become a go-to tool for many developers. RuboCop has a dedicated community that focuses on Ruby and offers comprehensive documentation and resources specifically geared towards Ruby programming.
Validation Strategy: ESLint provides developers with the ability to perform static analysis on JavaScript code and help catch potential errors or anti-patterns. RuboCop, on the other hand, leverages a more stylistic approach and focuses on enforcing Ruby coding conventions and best practices.
In summary, ESLint and RuboCop have key differences in terms of language support, configuration options, rule sets, integration, community, documentation, and validation strategy. While ESLint is more prevalent in the JavaScript ecosystem, RuboCop is widely adopted by Ruby developers, making them suitable choices for their respective programming languages.
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.
In the case of .js files I would recommend using both Eslint and Prettier.
You can set up Prettier as an Eslint rule using the following plugin:
https://github.com/prettier/eslint-plugin-prettier
And in order to avoid conflicts between Prettier and Eslint, you can use this config:
https://github.com/prettier/eslint-config-prettier
Which turns off all Eslint rules that are unnecessary or might conflict with Prettier.
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 ;)
Pura vida! Well, I had a similar issue and at the end I decided to use Stylelint + Prettier for that job, in our case, we wanted that our linting process includes the SCSS files and not only the JS file, base on that we concluded that using only ESLint to do both things wasn't the best option, so, we integrated prettier with Stylelint, and for that we used a neat plugin that allowed us to use Prettier inside Stylelint here is the link, https://github.com/prettier/stylelint-prettier#recommended-configuration, I hope that this can help you, hasta pronto!, :)
To communicate isn’t just getting rid of syntax errors and making code work. The code should communicate ideas to people through a programming language that computers can also understand.
You should adopt semantic variables, classes, modules, and methods names. For instance, in Ruby, we avoid using particular prefixes such as is_paid
, get_name
and set_name
. In their places, we use directly paid?
, name
, and name=
.
My advice is to use idiomatic and features that the programming language you use offers to you whenever possible, and figure out ways to better pass the message.
Why wouldn’t we be worried about semantics, typos, and styles? We should care for the quality of our code, and the many concepts that define it. You can start by using a linter to collect some issues from your codebase automatically.
Pros of ESLint
- Consistent javascript - opinions don't matter anymore8
- Free6
- IDE Integration6
- Customizable4
- Focuses code review on quality not style2
- Broad ecosystem of support & users2
Pros of RuboCop
- Open-source9
- Completely free8
- Runs Offline7
- Follows the Ruby Style Guide by default4
- Can automatically fix some problems4
- Customizable4
- Atom package2
- Integrates with Vim/Emacs/Atom/Sublime/2
- Integrates With Custom CMS1