Cognitive Complexity

Cognitive Complexity is a measure of how difficult a unit of code is to intuitively understand. Unlike Cyclomatic Complexity, which determines how difficult your code will be to test, Cognitive Complexity tells you how difficult your code will be to read and comprehend.

A method's cognitive complexity is based on a few simple rules:

• Code is not considered more complex when it uses shorthand that the language provides for collapsing multiple statements into one
• Code is considered more complex for each "break in the linear flow of the code"
• Code is considered more complex when "flow breaking structures are nested"

Further reading

• Cognitive Complexity docs
• Cognitive Complexity: A new way of measuring understandability

Require parens in arrow function arguments (arrow-parens)

Arrow functions can omit parentheses when they have exactly one parameter. In all other cases the parameter(s) must be wrapped in parentheses. This rule enforces the consistent use of parentheses in arrow functions.

Rule Details

This rule enforces parentheses around arrow function parameters regardless of arity. For example:

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
a => {}

// Good
(a) => {}

Following this style will help you find arrow functions (=>) which may be mistakenly included in a condition when a comparison such as >= was the intent.

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
if (a => 2) {
}

// Good
if (a >= 2) {
}

The rule can also be configured to discourage the use of parens when they are not required:

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
(a) => {}

// Good
a => {}

Options

This rule has a string option and an object one.

String options are:

• "always" (default) requires parens around arguments in all cases.
• "as-needed" allows omitting parens when there is only one argument.

Object properties for variants of the "as-needed" option:

• "requireForBlockBody": true modifies the as-needed rule in order to require parens if the function body is in an instructions block (surrounded by braces).

always

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "always"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

a => {};
a => a;
a => {'\n'};
a.then(foo => {});
a.then(foo => a);
a(foo => { if (true) {} });

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "always"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

() => {};
(a) => {};
(a) => a;
(a) => {'\n'}
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => { if (true) {} });

If Statements

One of benefits of this option is that it prevents the incorrect use of arrow functions in conditionals:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1;
var b = 2;
// ...
if (a => b) {
 console.log('bigger');
} else {
 console.log('smaller');
}
// outputs 'bigger', not smaller as expected

The contents of the if statement is an arrow function, not a comparison.

If the arrow function is intentional, it should be wrapped in parens to remove ambiguity.

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1;
var b = 0;
// ...
if ((a) => b) {
 console.log('truthy value returned');
} else {
 console.log('falsey value returned');
}
// outputs 'truthy value returned'

The following is another example of this behavior:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4;
var f = a => b ? c: d;
// f = ?

f is an arrow function which takes a as an argument and returns the result of b ? c: d.

This should be rewritten like so:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4;
var f = (a) => b ? c: d;

as-needed

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "as-needed" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "as-needed"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => {};
(a) => a;
(a) => {'\n'};
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => a);
a((foo) => { if (true) {} });

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "as-needed" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "as-needed"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

() => {};
a => {};
a => a;
a => {'\n'};
a.then(foo => {});
a.then(foo => { if (true) {} });
(a, b, c) => a;
(a = 10) => a;
([a, b]) => a;
({a, b}) => a;

requireForBlockBody

Examples of incorrect code for the { "requireForBlockBody": true } option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: [2, "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true }]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => a;
a => {};
a => {'\n'};
a.map((x) => x * x);
a.map(x => {
  return x * x;
});
a.then(foo => {});

Examples of correct code for the { "requireForBlockBody": true } option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: [2, "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true }]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => {};
(a) => {'\n'};
a => ({});
() => {};
a => a;
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => { if (true) {} });
a((foo) => { if (true) {} });
(a, b, c) => a;
(a = 10) => a;
([a, b]) => a;
({a, b}) => a;

Further Reading

• The "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true } rule is directly inspired by the Airbnb JS Style Guide. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require or disallow named function expressions (func-names)

A pattern that's becoming more common is to give function expressions names to aid in debugging. For example:

Foo.prototype.bar = function bar() {};

Adding the second bar in the above example is optional. If you leave off the function name then when the function throws an exception you are likely to get something similar to anonymous function in the stack trace. If you provide the optional name for a function expression then you will get the name of the function expression in the stack trace.

Rule Details

This rule can enforce or disallow the use of named function expressions.

Options

This rule has a string option:

• "always" (default) requires function expressions to have a name
• "as-needed" requires function expressions to have a name, if the name cannot be assigned automatically in an ES6 environment
• "never" disallows named function expressions, except in recursive functions, where a name is needed

always

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "always"]*/

Foo.prototype.bar = function() {};

(function() {
    // ...
}())

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "always"]*/

Foo.prototype.bar = function bar() {};

(function bar() {
    // ...
}())

as-needed

ECMAScript 6 introduced a name property on all functions. The value of name is determined by evaluating the code around the function to see if a name can be inferred. For example, a function assigned to a variable will automatically have a name property equal to the name of the variable. The value of name is then used in stack traces for easier debugging.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "as-needed" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "as-needed"]*/

Foo.prototype.bar = function() {};

(function() {
    // ...
}())

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "as-needed" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "as-needed"]*/

var bar = function() {};

(function bar() {
    // ...
}())

never

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "never" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "never"]*/

Foo.prototype.bar = function bar() {};

(function bar() {
    // ...
}())

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "never" option:

/*eslint func-names: ["error", "never"]*/

Foo.prototype.bar = function() {};

(function() {
    // ...
}())

Further Reading

• Functions Explained
• Function Names in ES6

Compatibility

• JSCS: requireAnonymousFunctions
• JSCS: disallowAnonymousFunctions Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

For more information visit Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

For more information visit Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/