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

Limit Cyclomatic Complexity (complexity)

Cyclomatic complexity measures the number of linearly independent paths through a program's source code. This rule allows setting a cyclomatic complexity threshold.

function a(x) {
    if (true) {
        return x; // 1st path
    } else if (false) {
        return x+1; // 2nd path
    } else {
        return 4; // 3rd path
    }
}

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at reducing code complexity by capping the amount of cyclomatic complexity allowed in a program. As such, it will warn when the cyclomatic complexity crosses the configured threshold (default is 20).

Examples of incorrect code for a maximum of 2:

/*eslint complexity: ["error", 2]*/

function a(x) {
    if (true) {
        return x;
    } else if (false) {
        return x+1;
    } else {
        return 4; // 3rd path
    }
}

Examples of correct code for a maximum of 2:

/*eslint complexity: ["error", 2]*/

function a(x) {
    if (true) {
        return x;
    } else {
        return 4;
    }
}

Options

Optionally, you may specify a max object property:

"complexity": ["error", 2]

is equivalent to

"complexity": ["error", { "max": 2 }]

Deprecated: the object property maximum is deprecated. Please use the property max instead.

When Not To Use It

If you can't determine an appropriate complexity limit for your code, then it's best to disable this rule.

Further Reading

• About Complexity
• Complexity Analysis of JavaScript Code

Related Rules

• [max-depth](max-depth.md)
• [max-len](max-len.md)
• [max-nested-callbacks](max-nested-callbacks.md)
• [max-params](max-params.md)
• [max-statements](max-statements.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

enforce a maximum number of statements allowed in function blocks (max-statements)

The max-statements rule allows you to specify the maximum number of statements allowed in a function.

function foo() {
  var bar = 1; // one statement
  var baz = 2; // two statements
  var qux = 3; // three statements
}

Rule Details

This rule enforces a maximum number of statements allowed in function blocks.

Options

This rule has a number or object option:

• "max" (default 10) enforces a maximum number of statements allows in function blocks

Deprecated: The object property maximum is deprecated; please use the object property max instead.

This rule has an object option:

• "ignoreTopLevelFunctions": true ignores top-level functions

max

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default { "max": 10 } option:

/*eslint max-statements: ["error", 10]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

function foo() {
  var foo1 = 1;
  var foo2 = 2;
  var foo3 = 3;
  var foo4 = 4;
  var foo5 = 5;
  var foo6 = 6;
  var foo7 = 7;
  var foo8 = 8;
  var foo9 = 9;
  var foo10 = 10;

  var foo11 = 11; // Too many.
}

let foo = () => {
  var foo1 = 1;
  var foo2 = 2;
  var foo3 = 3;
  var foo4 = 4;
  var foo5 = 5;
  var foo6 = 6;
  var foo7 = 7;
  var foo8 = 8;
  var foo9 = 9;
  var foo10 = 10;

  var foo11 = 11; // Too many.
};

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default { "max": 10 } option:

/*eslint max-statements: ["error", 10]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

function foo() {
  var foo1 = 1;
  var foo2 = 2;
  var foo3 = 3;
  var foo4 = 4;
  var foo5 = 5;
  var foo6 = 6;
  var foo7 = 7;
  var foo8 = 8;
  var foo9 = 9;
  var foo10 = 10;
  return function () {

    // The number of statements in the inner function does not count toward the
    // statement maximum.

    return 42;
  };
}

let foo = () => {
  var foo1 = 1;
  var foo2 = 2;
  var foo3 = 3;
  var foo4 = 4;
  var foo5 = 5;
  var foo6 = 6;
  var foo7 = 7;
  var foo8 = 8;
  var foo9 = 9;
  var foo10 = 10;
  return function () {

    // The number of statements in the inner function does not count toward the
    // statement maximum.

    return 42;
  };
}

ignoreTopLevelFunctions

Examples of additional correct code for this rule with the { "max": 10 }, { "ignoreTopLevelFunctions": true } options:

/*eslint max-statements: ["error", 10, { "ignoreTopLevelFunctions": true }]*/

function foo() {
  var foo1 = 1;
  var foo2 = 2;
  var foo3 = 3;
  var foo4 = 4;
  var foo5 = 5;
  var foo6 = 6;
  var foo7 = 7;
  var foo8 = 8;
  var foo9 = 9;
  var foo10 = 10;
  var foo11 = 11;
}

Related Rules

• [complexity](complexity.md)
• [max-depth](max-depth.md)
• [max-len](max-len.md)
• [max-nested-callbacks](max-nested-callbacks.md)
• [max-params](max-params.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Disallow Primitive Wrapper Instances (no-new-wrappers)

There are three primitive types in JavaScript that have wrapper objects: string, number, and boolean. These are represented by the constructors String, Number, and Boolean, respectively. The primitive wrapper types are used whenever one of these primitive values is read, providing them with object-like capabilities such as methods. Behind the scenes, an object of the associated wrapper type is created and then destroyed, which is why you can call methods on primitive values, such as:

var text = "Hello world".substring(2);

Behind the scenes in this example, a String object is constructed. The substring() method exists on String.prototype and so is accessible to the string instance.

It's also possible to manually create a new wrapper instance:

var stringObject = new String("Hello world");
var numberObject = new Number(33);
var booleanObject = new Boolean(false);

Although possible, there aren't any good reasons to use these primitive wrappers as constructors. They tend to confuse other developers more than anything else because they seem like they should act as primitives, but they do not. For example:

var stringObject = new String("Hello world");
console.log(typeof stringObject);       // "object"

var text = "Hello world";
console.log(typeof text);               // "string"

var booleanObject = new Boolean(false);
if (booleanObject) {    // all objects are truthy!
    console.log("This executes");
}

The first problem is that primitive wrapper objects are, in fact, objects. That means typeof will return "object" instead of "string", "number", or "boolean". The second problem comes with boolean objects. Every object is truthy, that means an instance of Boolean always resolves to true even when its actual value is false.

For these reasons, it's considered a best practice to avoid using primitive wrapper types with new.

Rule Details

This rule aims to eliminate the use of String, Number, and Boolean with the new operator. As such, it warns whenever it sees new String, new Number, or new Boolean.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-new-wrappers: "error"*/

var stringObject = new String("Hello world");
var numberObject = new Number(33);
var booleanObject = new Boolean(false);

var stringObject = new String;
var numberObject = new Number;
var booleanObject = new Boolean;

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-new-wrappers: "error"*/

var text = String(someValue);
var num = Number(someValue);

var object = new MyString();

When Not To Use It

If you want to allow the use of primitive wrapper objects, then you can safely disable this rule.

Further Reading

• Wrapper objects

Related Rules

• [no-array-constructor](no-array-constructor.md)
• [no-new-object](no-new-object.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/