What are linters and how can they help in blockchain and crypto development
Code quality is one of the topics that many devs talk about, including (or perhaps especially) in blockchain and crypto development. However, not everyone can figure out what that 'quality' consists of and how to ensure it. Large companies or established teams can research best practices, implement and utilize their own standards. However, today's blockchain world is so agile, what if the team is small and the development timeline is short? Linters is one of the solutions to establish code quality and consistency when developing a crypto project.
What are linters?
Linters are programs that automatically analyze the code to look for inconsistencies and flaws. In blockchain development, linters can help to improve code readability and consistency (especially important in distributed and new teams), optimize smart contract code, and improve code security. Linters can help identify issues in the code at the development stage.
The functionality of linters usually covers several areas:
- Code style and structure
- Best practices for a particular programming language
- Basic code security issues
- Code optimization
How linters can help in smart contract development
Crypto projects are a special industry where time is usually crucial, a team can be assembled in a week and work on a project remotely from different parts of the world. Linters can be an indispensable support, allowing smart contract developers to avoid wasting their valuable time getting familiar with each other's style and instead focus on project sprints and roadmap milestones. Linter can provide common code standards across the team, meaning increased consistency and improved readability, which (in addition to more effective time management) can allow developers to conduct code reviews more efficiently.
Linters usually can also highlight basic security flaws, which can be important, especially in the early stages of development, as it allows to review and fix the code if necessary at the early development stage, reducing the cost of bug fixes.
The work of linters can be automated by incorporating them into the development process on an ongoing basis. However, devs are usually not limited to linters alone, and at different stages of project development linters are used along with static analyzers, fuzzers, as well as formal verification and manual audits.
Popular linters for blockchain / crypto development
Some of the most popular linters are:
- Solhint - an open-source project provides a linting utility for Solidity code
- Ethlint (formerly Solium) - Solidity linter for code quality & security
- ESLint - JS / TypeScript linter
Conclusion
The code quality in a particular team often starts with developer team mutual understanding. A common baseline and general code rules are something that can help a small team get the job done well in a tight timeframe. Linters that ensure consistency and address basic security and optimization issues can help smart contract dev teams focus on the project challenges and spend time and resources more efficiently.
Disclaimer:
Always DYOR. This article is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal, financial, investment advice and / or professional advice, and we are not responsible for any decisions based on our analysis or recommendations. Always consult with a qualified security expert and conduct thorough testing before deploying smart contracts.
