Javascript Gentleman Rule #3: Lint

We're all human and humans make mistakes.

You may not be perfect but you can make sure your code is by using linters. A tool will make sure that your code and everyone else in your team has code that reads the same.

There are three choices for javascript:

• JSLint
• JSHint
• Closure Linter

For Coffeescript:

• coffeelint

For CSS:

• CSSLint

Also have a look in google for your IDE and "lint". You should be able to find a good extension that will allow you to lint your files on save - or even live like SublimeLint. You might also like to take a look at Holmes

Javascript Gentleman Rule #1

A Gentleman never goes past 80 characters

A simple one, and one I used to break myself a lot. It's cool writing bit long lines which do everything, after all you're writing less lines of code right?

Then I found that at my new work place my boss liked to check the commits in an 80 character width vim instance. I know we all have wide screens now but think about it for a second, if we split long lines up then all that whitespace to the right of short lines are just wasted space. Splitting a line at 80 columns means we waste less screen space, are compatible with other people's viewing habits and can also give us a rough guideline as to how much information we should be putting on to each line. Possibly the biggest thing we gain from this though is that because we now know the absolute width of each file we can have several editor windows (or a spit view) on a screen and know exactly how wide that window should be without having to scroll to the right.

Luckily most editors have an in built option to put a line at the 80 character mark, or wrap the text at that point to allow you to easily see when you've gone past it. Vim hasn't got anything directly in, but just do a quick google search and there are solutions to highlight the column or highlight text going past it.

All the major lint tools should also have options, and good old Closure Linter definitely does.

This does raise a question though - what should we do if a line is too long? how do we split it up? Hopefully you can deal with that in style guides but a good first rule is to make a new line at the last comma. I'll go in to indentation in another rule 

the Javascript Gentleman introduction

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. A javascript programmer is often referred to as a ninja or rockstar. They sound exciting, but what makes someone a ninja, and why would they want to be one? Programming is unlike a lot of other fields, we are actively encouraged to work in groups and share our code yet we're seen as loners at the same time as we sit in front of a screen for hours on end.

What I would like to see is a more mature community where js professionals write their code as it doesn't belong to them. The code we write will be picked up and viewed by other people and it is for them we really should be writing, not ourselves.

I believe there is a set of rules that can be followed and a great start has already been put down with Javscript: The Good Parts. If anything I believe the book doesn't go far enough. The book is a great read and essential for anyone who wants to work on javascript but only deals with specific parts of the language, what it misses are things like code style, naming conventions and just how to organize your code.

As a start everyone should at least read Google's style guide which is a good way to start thinking about code style. I won't tell you how you should style your code - it is something that should be agreed upon by a team but I will go in to what I do to try and make my code more accessible to future programmers.

That is the major point - we should code for others. This is one of the reasons I wrote the JQuery-like interface for the closure library. I know that there is not that much exposure to the closure library so I want future programmers to work with something they feel comfortable with.

I'm going to make some future posts that lays down rules for the Javascript Gentleman which I hope will help anyone who wants to work in a team or write a library for others to use, but for now I'll leave you with this thought - a javascript ninja tries to do cool things by bending the language to his whim, a javascript gentleman however knows how to get the same result by playing within the intended spirit of the language, and in that is the difference. It's not cool to be a gentleman but in the end you'll be respected more and have a greater impact.