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

Prettier vs RuboCop

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

RuboCop
RuboCop
Stacks1.4K
Followers222
Votes41
Prettier
Prettier
Stacks13.2K
Followers1.3K
Votes7
GitHub Stars51.1K
Forks4.6K

Prettier vs RuboCop: What are the differences?

Introduction: Prettier and RuboCop are both popular code formatting tools used in the development process. While they aim to achieve similar goals, there are several key differences between them.

  1. Implementation Language: Prettier is written in JavaScript and can be used with various programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, and HTML. On the other hand, RuboCop is written in Ruby and primarily focuses on code formatting for Ruby projects.

  2. Configuration: Prettier comes with a predefined set of rules and does not provide extensive configuration options. It enforces a consistent coding style and takes care of formatting automatically, reducing the need for customization. RuboCop, on the other hand, offers extensive configuration options and allows developers to customize the code formatting rules based on their specific project requirements.

  3. Focus on Formatting: Prettier's primary focus is on code formatting and ensuring consistent styling across the codebase. It automatically formats the code and does not perform static analysis or enforce code quality rules. RuboCop, on the other hand, not only performs code formatting but also performs static analysis and enforces a set of code quality rules. It helps in catching potential issues and improving the overall code quality.

  4. Community Support and Usage: Prettier has gained significant popularity and is widely adopted in the JavaScript ecosystem. It has a large and active community, which leads to frequent updates and wide support. RuboCop is primarily used in the Ruby community and has a strong following among Ruby developers. While it may not have the same level of popularity as Prettier, it is well-maintained and has good community support.

  5. Integration with Tools: Prettier integrates well with various editors and IDEs, providing a seamless experience for developers. It has plugins available for popular editors like Visual Studio Code and Sublime Text. RuboCop also integrates with editors and IDEs, but its integration may be more tailored for the Ruby ecosystem. It is often used alongside other Ruby development tools like RSpec and Rails.

  6. Scope of Rules: Prettier follows a strict set of formatting rules that are the same for all projects. It does not allow for custom rules or exceptions to be defined. RuboCop, on the other hand, allows developers to define and customize rules based on their project needs. It provides a flexible framework to enforce specific code quality rules in addition to code formatting.

In summary, Prettier and RuboCop differ in their implementation language, configuration options, focus on formatting versus code quality rules, community support, tool integration, and scope of rules.

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Advice on RuboCop, Prettier

Weverton
Weverton

CTO at SourceLevel

Aug 10, 2020

Review

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.

116k views116k
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

RuboCop
RuboCop
Prettier
Prettier

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.

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.

-
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
-
GitHub Stars
51.1K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
4.6K
Stacks
1.4K
Stacks
13.2K
Followers
222
Followers
1.3K
Votes
41
Votes
7
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 9
    Open-source
  • 8
    Completely free
  • 7
    Runs Offline
  • 4
    Customizable
  • 4
    Follows the Ruby Style Guide by default
Pros
  • 2
    Customizable
  • 1
    Open Source
  • 1
    Completely free
  • 1
    Runs offline
  • 1
    Atom/VSCode package
Integrations
Ruby
Ruby
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 RuboCop, 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.

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.

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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