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

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

This cop looks for has(one|many) and belongsto associations where ActiveRecord can't automatically determine the inverse association because of a scope or the options used. This can result in unnecessary queries in some circumstances. :inverse_of must be manually specified for associations to work in both ways, or set to false to opt-out.

Example:

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many(:posts,
    -> { order(published_at: :desc) },
    inverse_of: :blog
  )
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  with_options inverse_of: :blog do
    has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
  end
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

# good
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

Example:

# bad
# However, RuboCop can not detect this pattern...
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician
  belongs_to :patient
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

# good
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician, inverse_of: :appointments
  belongs_to :patient, inverse_of: :appointments
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

@see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#bi-directional-associations @see http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Associations/ClassMethods.html#module-ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods-label-Setting+Inverses

This cop checks that models subclass ApplicationRecord with Rails 5.0.

Example:

# good class Rails5Model < ApplicationRecord # ... end

# bad class Rails4Model < ActiveRecord::Base # ... end

This cop looks for has(one|many) and belongsto associations where ActiveRecord can't automatically determine the inverse association because of a scope or the options used. This can result in unnecessary queries in some circumstances. :inverse_of must be manually specified for associations to work in both ways, or set to false to opt-out.

Example:

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many(:posts,
    -> { order(published_at: :desc) },
    inverse_of: :blog
  )
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  with_options inverse_of: :blog do
    has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
  end
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

# good
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

Example:

# bad
# However, RuboCop can not detect this pattern...
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician
  belongs_to :patient
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

# good
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician, inverse_of: :appointments
  belongs_to :patient, inverse_of: :appointments
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

@see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#bi-directional-associations @see http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Associations/ClassMethods.html#module-ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods-label-Setting+Inverses

This cop looks for has(one|many) and belongsto associations where ActiveRecord can't automatically determine the inverse association because of a scope or the options used. This can result in unnecessary queries in some circumstances. :inverse_of must be manually specified for associations to work in both ways, or set to false to opt-out.

Example:

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  has_many(:posts,
    -> { order(published_at: :desc) },
    inverse_of: :blog
  )
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

# good
class Blog < ApplicationRecord
  with_options inverse_of: :blog do
    has_many :posts, -> { order(published_at: :desc) }
  end
end

class Post < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :blog
end

Example:

# bad
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable
end

# good
class Picture < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :imageable, polymorphic: true
end

class Employee < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :pictures, as: :imageable, inverse_of: :imageable
end

Example:

# bad
# However, RuboCop can not detect this pattern...
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician
  belongs_to :patient
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

# good
class Physician < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :patients, through: :appointments
end

class Appointment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :physician, inverse_of: :appointments
  belongs_to :patient, inverse_of: :appointments
end

class Patient < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :appointments
  has_many :physicians, through: :appointments
end

@see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#bi-directional-associations @see http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Associations/ClassMethods.html#module-ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods-label-Setting+Inverses

This cop transforms usages of a method call safeguarded by a non nil check for the variable whose method is being called to safe navigation (&.).

Configuration option: ConvertCodeThatCanStartToReturnNil The default for this is false. When configured to true, this will check for code in the format !foo.nil? && foo.bar. As it is written, the return of this code is limited to false and whatever the return of the method is. If this is converted to safe navigation, foo&.bar can start returning nil as well as what the method returns.

Example:

# bad
foo.bar if foo
foo.bar(param1, param2) if foo
foo.bar { |e| e.something } if foo
foo.bar(param) { |e| e.something } if foo

foo.bar if !foo.nil?
foo.bar unless !foo
foo.bar unless foo.nil?

foo && foo.bar
foo && foo.bar(param1, param2)
foo && foo.bar { |e| e.something }
foo && foo.bar(param) { |e| e.something }

# good
foo&.bar
foo&.bar(param1, param2)
foo&.bar { |e| e.something }
foo&.bar(param) { |e| e.something }

foo.nil? || foo.bar
!foo || foo.bar

# Methods that `nil` will `respond_to?` should not be converted to
# use safe navigation
foo.to_i if foo

This cop checks for usage of comparison operators (==, >, <) to test numbers as zero, positive, or negative. These can be replaced by their respective predicate methods. The cop can also be configured to do the reverse.

The cop disregards #nonzero? as it its value is truthy or falsey, but not true and false, and thus not always interchangeable with != 0.

The cop ignores comparisons to global variables, since they are often populated with objects which can be compared with integers, but are not themselves Interger polymorphic.

Example: EnforcedStyle: predicate (default)

# bad

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

# good

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

Example: EnforcedStyle: comparison

# bad

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

# good

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

This cop checks for usage of comparison operators (==, >, <) to test numbers as zero, positive, or negative. These can be replaced by their respective predicate methods. The cop can also be configured to do the reverse.

The cop disregards #nonzero? as it its value is truthy or falsey, but not true and false, and thus not always interchangeable with != 0.

The cop ignores comparisons to global variables, since they are often populated with objects which can be compared with integers, but are not themselves Interger polymorphic.

Example: EnforcedStyle: predicate (default)

# bad

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

# good

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

Example: EnforcedStyle: comparison

# bad

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

# good

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

This cop checks for usage of comparison operators (==, >, <) to test numbers as zero, positive, or negative. These can be replaced by their respective predicate methods. The cop can also be configured to do the reverse.

The cop disregards #nonzero? as it its value is truthy or falsey, but not true and false, and thus not always interchangeable with != 0.

The cop ignores comparisons to global variables, since they are often populated with objects which can be compared with integers, but are not themselves Interger polymorphic.

Example: EnforcedStyle: predicate (default)

# bad

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

# good

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

Example: EnforcedStyle: comparison

# bad

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

# good

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

This cop checks for usage of comparison operators (==, >, <) to test numbers as zero, positive, or negative. These can be replaced by their respective predicate methods. The cop can also be configured to do the reverse.

The cop disregards #nonzero? as it its value is truthy or falsey, but not true and false, and thus not always interchangeable with != 0.

The cop ignores comparisons to global variables, since they are often populated with objects which can be compared with integers, but are not themselves Interger polymorphic.

Example: EnforcedStyle: predicate (default)

# bad

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

# good

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

Example: EnforcedStyle: comparison

# bad

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

# good

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0