ESLINT: Willingness to Adapt

20 Sep 2023

---

What is ESLINT

Coding standards, simply put, is like a writing guide for programmers. It outlines the best practices to create a consistent writing style. From my own experiences and what I believe is the most talked about standard, is variable/function naming conventions. Things such as camel Case or Snake Case are widely known as acceptable naming conventions and there are disputes as to whether one is greater than the other. Recently, I have dabbled in the use of ESLint alongside IntelliJ and found myself struggling to enjoy the analysis tool.

Issues

The main gripe I have with ESLint is that it throws exceptions on things that are not entirely completed and thus throws off my workflow. Whenever I make a new function, I get to enjoy 3-5 error pop-ups due to unused parameters, no return statement, and more. This is, for lack of better words, super annoying. This completely stops all my progress as the red warning lines seek the attention of anyone who dares look at them. Every time I use ESLint, I can’t for the life of me enjoy my experience.

Positives

However, I do understand the purpose of making students use some form of code analysis tool. Most companies follow a strict format or expect some sort of universal formatting to keep everything legible for all employees. ESLint, while encroaching the walls of my own preferred formatting, gives me a clear understanding of what working through, what could be, a potential company standard. I think Software Engineers need to be able to adapt and learn as the job requires, especially at an introductory level. For that reason, I am glad I experienced this, but for its shortcomings, I can’t wait to say “good riddance”.