JSLint VS Standard

This is the spec for the language Douglas Crockford (author of the book "JavaScript: The Good Parts", the JSON specification[1], JSLint[2]) had explained in his famous talk: "The Next Programming Language"[3].

The "big things" in the language are the Actor model, favouring immutability and capabilities-based security.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON

[2] https://www.jslint.com/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2idkNdKqpQ

Someone should write a book about this [0] and a tool to automate checking your JavaScript code [1].

[0]: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/javascript-the-good/978...

[1]: https://www.jslint.com/

I'm working on a book called "How to not get your knickers in a twist because you neglected to learn from people who came before you."

JavaScript Linter

One way to achieve this is by using linting tools like ESLint or JSLint. These tools automatically analyze your code for errors, stylistic inconsistencies, and potential security vulnerabilities. By customizing the linting rules to align with coding standards and best practices, you can identify and rectify potential security issues early in the development process. Linting helps maintain a clean and secure codebase.

>Does this mean that in theory i could skip the build/bundling step entirely?

You can but you must write your app in something the browser understands (js not ts, css not sass etc) and use native modules. For example, here is the test harness for a custom module, written in pure html with no build step: https://github.com/javajosh/simpatico/blob/master/combine2.h.... Here is a more complex (and much older) example from Crockford: https://www.jslint.com/

And yes, the experience developing this way is quite nice!

I came across a problem where I had to find the ES6 features used by any javascript project and other data regarding their use. When I reached out to stackoverflow, I could find only one relevant post which asks you to use linters like jshint/jshint or compilers like babel. Jslint didn't seem to report anything specific to ES6 and Babel converts all the ES6+ features to ES5 but doesn't report anything regarding which constructs were used or how many times they were used. However, Jshint reported all ES6 features used in the code along with some metadata. And, to suit my needs, I ended up writing a python script that calls Jshint on all JS files in a project and presents the features used in the project and the number of times they were used across all files. You can find the code here : jsHintRunner

Javascript Linting parses and checks if any syntax is violating the rule. If a violation occurs, a warning is shown explaining unexpected behavior. Use the online version for small projects: JSLint, ESLint or JSHint. For larger projects, it is recommended to use a task runner like Gulp or Grunt. Linters ensure developers are following the best practices as a result of which few bugs appear during project development.

Programmers of classical languages hate JavaScript because it's prototype-based, dynamic and weakly typed (among other complaints). It's also the number one most in-demand programming language in 2022 according to a number of independent surveys. JSLint can help you write better JavaScript and JSMin can minify your code before deployment. These tools were created by Douglas Crockford. I would recommend his books JavaScript: The Good Parts for programmers coming to JavaScript for the first time, and How JavaScript Works for experienced JavaScript programmers.

I picked up standard[1] a while back for this reason, I don't want to have to think about it. It works fine, I have no complaints (took me a while to get used to not using semi-colons but now I prefer it) Same reason I use `cargo fmt` as well.

[1] https://standardjs.com/

# question 1: ? How would you like to use ESLint? … To check syntax only To check syntax and find problems ❯ To check syntax, find problems, and enforce code style # question 2: ? What type of modules does your project use? … ❯ JavaScript modules (import/export) CommonJS (require/exports) None of these # question 3: ? Which framework does your project use? … ❯ React Vue.js None of these # question 4 (select "No", because we won't add TypeScript support for this project): ? Does your project use TypeScript? › No / Yes # question 5: ? Where does your code run? … Browser ✔ Node # question 6: ? How would you like to define a style for your project? … ❯ Use a popular style guide Answer questions about your style Inspect your JavaScript file(s) # question 7 (we'll rely on Airbnb's JavaScript style guide here): ? Which style guide do you want to follow? … ❯ Airbnb: https://github.com/airbnb/javascript Standard: https://github.com/standard/standard Google: https://github.com/google/eslint-config-google # question 8: ? What format do you want your config file to be in? … JavaScript YAML ❯ JSON # the final prompt here is where eslint will ask you if you want to install all the necessary dependencies. Select "Yes" and hit enter: Checking peerDependencies of eslint-config-airbnb@latest The config that you have selected requires the following dependencies: eslint-plugin-react@^7.21.5 eslint-config-airbnb@latest eslint@^5.16.0 || ^6.8.0 || ^7.2.0 eslint-plugin-import@^2.22.1 eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y@^6.4.1 eslint-plugin-react-hooks@^4 || ^3 || ^2.3.0 || ^1.7.0 ? Would you like to install them now with npm? › No / Yes

A Thin JavaScript Document Storage with Middleware Stack

https://github.com/standard/standard/issues/384

For example, if you use https://standardjs.com/ - it will error on your second code snippet and if you ask it for an autofix - it will transfer the minus sign to the first line.

In comparison, JavaScript doesn't have a strict coding standard, although it does have widely accepted code style guides like the Airbnb JavaScript Style Guide and the JavaScript Standard Style. These guides provide recommendations for code formatting and naming conventions, but they are not as strictly enforced as the Java coding standard.