Project: Ruby-style-guide

Publisher: Womply

syntax

Use :: only to reference constants(this includes classes and
modules) and constructors (like Array() or Nokogiri::HTML()).
Never use :: for regular method invocation.

# bad
SomeClass::some_method
some_object::some_method

# good
SomeClass.some_method
some_object.some_method
SomeModule::SomeClass::SOME_CONST
SomeModule::SomeClass()

Use def with parentheses when there are arguments. Omit the
parentheses when the method doesn't accept any arguments.

# bad
def some_method()
 # body omitted
end

# good
def some_method
 # body omitted
end

# bad
def some_method_with_arguments arg1, arg2
 # body omitted
end

# good
def some_method_with_arguments(arg1, arg2)
 # body omitted
end

Never use for, unless you know exactly why. Most of the time iterators
should be used instead. for is implemented in terms of each (so
you're adding a level of indirection), but with a twist - for
doesn't introduce a new scope (unlike each) and variables defined
in its block will be visible outside it.
```
arr = [1, 2, 3]

# bad
for elem in arr do
  puts elem
end

# note that elem is accessible outside of the for loop
elem #=> 3

# good
arr.each { |elem| puts elem }

# elem is not accessible outside each's block
elem #=> NameError: undefined local variable or method `elem'
```

Never use then for multi-line if/unless.

# bad
if some_condition then
  # body omitted
end

# good
if some_condition
  # body omitted
end

Always put the condition on the same line as the if/unless in a multi-line conditional.

# bad
if
  some_condition
  do_something
  do_something_else
end

# good
if some_condition
  do_something
  do_something_else
end

Favor the ternary operator(?:) over if/then/else/end constructs.
It's more common and obviously more concise.

# bad
result = if some_condition then something else something_else end

# good
result = some_condition ? something : something_else

Use one expression per branch in a ternary operator. This
also means that ternary operators must not be nested. Prefer
if/else constructs in these cases.

# bad
some_condition ? (nested_condition ? nested_something : nested_something_else) : something_else

# good
if some_condition
  nested_condition ? nested_something : nested_something_else
else
  something_else
end

Never use if x: ... - as of Ruby 1.9 it has been removed. Use
the ternary operator instead.

# bad
result = if some_condition: something else something_else end

# good
result = some_condition ? something : something_else

Never use if x; .... Use the ternary operator instead.

Leverage the fact that if and case are expressions which return a result.

# bad
if condition
  result = x
else
  result = y
end

# good
result =
  if condition
    x
  else
    y
  end

Use when x then ... for one-line cases. The alternative syntax
when x: ... has been removed as of Ruby 1.9.
Never use when x; .... See the previous rule.

Use ! instead of not.

# bad - braces are required because of op precedence
x = (not something)

# good
x = !something

Avoid the use of !!.

# bad
x = 'test'
# obscure nil check
if !!x
  # body omitted
end

x = false
# double negation is useless on booleans
!!x # => false

# good
x = 'test'
unless x.nil?
  # body omitted
end

The and and or keywords are banned. It's just not worth
it. Always use && and || instead.

# bad
# boolean expression
if some_condition and some_other_condition
  do_something
end

# control flow
document.saved? or document.save!

# good
# boolean expression
if some_condition && some_other_condition
  do_something
end

# control flow
document.saved? || document.save!

Avoid multi-line ?: (the ternary operator); use if/unless instead.

Favor modifier if/unless usage when you have a single-line
body. Another good alternative is the usage of control flow &&/||.

# bad
if some_condition
  do_something
end

# good
do_something if some_condition

# another good option
some_condition && do_something

Avoid modifier if/unless usage at the end of a
non-trivial multi-line block.

# bad
10.times do
  # multi-line body omitted
end if some_condition

# good
if some_condition
  10.times do
    # multi-line body omitted
  end
end

Favor unless over if for negative conditions (or control
flow ||).

# bad
do_something if !some_condition

# bad
do_something if not some_condition

# good
do_something unless some_condition

# another good option
some_condition || do_something

Never use unless with else. Rewrite these with the positive case first.

# bad
unless success?
  puts 'failure'
else
  puts 'success'
end

# good
if success?
  puts 'success'
else
  puts 'failure'
end

Don't use parentheses around the condition of an if/unless/while/until.

# bad
if (x > 10)
  # body omitted
end

# good
if x > 10
  # body omitted
end

Never use while/until condition do for multi-line while/until.

# bad
while x > 5 do
  # body omitted
end

until x > 5 do
  # body omitted
end

# good
while x > 5
  # body omitted
end

until x > 5
  # body omitted
end

Favor modifier while/until usage when you have a single-line
body.

# bad
while some_condition
  do_something
end

# good
do_something while some_condition

Favor until over while for negative conditions.

# bad
do_something while !some_condition

# good
do_something until some_condition

Use Kernel#loop instead of while/until when you need an infinite loop.

# bad
while true
  do_something
end

until false
  do_something
end

# good
loop do
  do_something
end

Use Kernel#loop with break rather than begin/end/until or begin/end/while for post-loop tests.

# bad
begin
  puts val
  val += 1
end while val < 0

# good
loop do
  puts val
  val += 1
  break unless val < 0
end

Omit parentheses around parameters for methods that are part of an
internal DSL (e.g. Rake, Rails, RSpec), methods that have
"keyword" status in Ruby (e.g. attr_reader, puts) and attribute
access methods. Use parentheses around the arguments of all other
method invocations.
```
class Person
  attr_reader :name, :age

  # omitted
end

temperance = Person.new('Temperance', 30)
temperance.name

puts temperance.age

x = Math.sin(y)
array.delete(e)

bowling.score.should == 0
```

Omit the outer braces around an implicit options hash.

# bad
user.set({ name: 'John', age: 45, permissions: { read: true } })

# good
user.set(name: 'John', age: 45, permissions: { read: true })

Omit both the outer braces and parentheses for methods that are
part of an internal DSL.

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  # bad
  validates(:name, { presence: true, length: { within: 1..10 } })

  # good
  validates :name, presence: true, length: { within: 1..10 }
end

Omit parentheses for method calls with no arguments.

# bad
Kernel.exit!()
2.even?()
fork()
'test'.upcase()

# good
Kernel.exit!
2.even?
fork
'test'.upcase

Prefer {...} over do...end for single-line blocks. Avoid using
{...} for multi-line blocks (multiline chaining is always
ugly). Always use do...end for "control flow" and "method
definitions" (e.g. in Rakefiles and certain DSLs). Avoid do...end
when chaining.
```
names = ['Bozhidar', 'Steve', 'Sarah']

# bad
names.each do |name|
  puts name
end

# good
names.each { |name| puts name }

# bad
names.select do |name|
  name.start_with?('S')
end.map { |name| name.upcase }

# good
names.select { |name| name.start_with?('S') }.map { |name| name.upcase }
```
Some will argue that multiline chaining would look OK with the use of {...}, but they should
ask themselves - is this code really readable and can the blocks' contents be extracted into
nifty methods?

Consider using explicit block argument to avoid writing block
literal that just passes its arguments to another block. Beware of
the performance impact, though, as the block gets converted to a
Proc.

require 'tempfile'

# bad
def with_tmp_dir
  Dir.mktmpdir do |tmp_dir|
    Dir.chdir(tmp_dir) { |dir| yield dir }  # block just passes arguments
  end
end

# good
def with_tmp_dir(&block)
  Dir.mktmpdir do |tmp_dir|
    Dir.chdir(tmp_dir, &block)
  end
end

with_tmp_dir do |dir|
  puts "dir is accessible as a parameter and pwd is set: #{dir}"
end

Avoid return where not required for flow of control.

# bad
def some_method(some_arr)
  return some_arr.size
end

# good
def some_method(some_arr)
  some_arr.size
end

Avoid self where not required. (It is only required when calling a self write accessor.)

# bad
def ready?
  if self.last_reviewed_at > self.last_updated_at
    self.worker.update(self.content, self.options)
    self.status = :in_progress
  end
  self.status == :verified
end

# good
def ready?
  if last_reviewed_at > last_updated_at
    worker.update(content, options)
    self.status = :in_progress
  end
  status == :verified
end

As a corollary, avoid shadowing methods with local variables unless they are both equivalent.

class Foo
  attr_accessor :options

  # ok
  def initialize(options)
    self.options = options
    # both options and self.options are equivalent here
  end

  # bad
  def do_something(options = {})
    unless options[:when] == :later
      output(self.options[:message])
    end
  end

  # good
  def do_something(params = {})
    unless params[:when] == :later
      output(options[:message])
    end
  end
end

Don't use the return value of = (an assignment) in conditional
expressions unless the assignment is wrapped in parentheses. This is
a fairly popular idiom among Rubyists that's sometimes referred to as
safe assignment in condition.

# bad (+ a warning)
if v = array.grep(/foo/)
  do_something(v)
  ...
end

# good (MRI would still complain, but RuboCop won't)
if (v = array.grep(/foo/))
  do_something(v)
  ...
end

# good
v = array.grep(/foo/)
if v
  do_something(v)
  ...
end

Use shorthand self assignment operators whenever applicable.

# bad
x = x + y
x = x * y
x = x**y
x = x / y
x = x || y
x = x && y

# good
x += y
x *= y
x **= y
x /= y
x ||= y
x &&= y

Use ||= to initialize variables only if they're not already initialized.

# bad
name = name ? name : 'Bozhidar'

# bad
name = 'Bozhidar' unless name

# good - set name to Bozhidar, only if it's nil or false
name ||= 'Bozhidar'

Don't use ||= to initialize boolean variables. (Consider what
would happen if the current value happened to be false.)
```
# bad - would set enabled to true even if it was false
enabled ||= true

# good
enabled = true if enabled.nil?
```

Use &&= to preprocess variables that may or may not exist. Using
&&= will change the value only if it exists, removing the need to
check its existence with if.

# bad
if something
  something = something.downcase
end

# bad
something = something ? nil : something.downcase

# ok
something = something.downcase if something

# good
something = something && something.downcase

# better
something &&= something.downcase

Avoid explicit use of the case equality operator ===. As its name
implies it is meant to be used implicitly by case expressions and
outside of them it yields some pretty confusing code.
```
# bad
Array === something
(1..100) === 7
/something/ === some_string

# good
something.is_a?(Array)
(1..100).include?(7)
some_string =~ /something/
```
Avoid using Perl-style special variables (like $:, $;,
etc. ). They are quite cryptic and their use in anything but
one-liner scripts is discouraged. Use the human-friendly
aliases provided by the English library.
```
# bad
$:.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__)

# good
require 'English'
$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__)
```
Never put a space between a method name and the opening parenthesis.
```
# bad
f (3 + 2) + 1

# good
f(3 + 2) + 1
```
If the first argument to a method begins with an open parenthesis,
always use parentheses in the method invocation. For example, write
f((3 + 2) + 1).
Always run the Ruby interpreter with the -w option so it will warn
you if you forget either of the rules above!

Use the new lambda literal syntax for single line body blocks. Use the
lambda method for multi-line blocks.

# bad
l = lambda { |a, b| a + b }
l.call(1, 2)

# correct, but looks extremely awkward
l = ->(a, b) do
  tmp = a * 7
  tmp * b / 50
end

# good
l = ->(a, b) { a + b }
l.call(1, 2)

l = lambda do |a, b|
  tmp = a * 7
  tmp * b / 50
end

Prefer proc over Proc.new.

# bad
p = Proc.new { |n| puts n }

# good
p = proc { |n| puts n }

Prefer proc.call() over proc[] or proc.() for both lambdas and procs.

# bad - looks similar to Enumeration access
l = ->(v) { puts v }
l[1]

# also bad - uncommon syntax
l = ->(v) { puts v }
l.(1)

# good
l = ->(v) { puts v }
l.call(1)

Prefix with _ unused block parameters and local variables. It's
also acceptable to use just _ (although it's a bit less
descriptive). This convention is recognized by the Ruby interpreter
and tools like RuboCop and will suppress their unused variable warnings.

# bad
result = hash.map { |k, v| v + 1 }

def something(x)
  unused_var, used_var = something_else(x)
  # ...
end

# good
result = hash.map { |_k, v| v + 1 }

def something(x)
  _unused_var, used_var = something_else(x)
  # ...
end

# good
result = hash.map { |_, v| v + 1 }

def something(x)
  _, used_var = something_else(x)
  # ...
end

Use $stdout/$stderr/$stdin instead of
STDOUT/STDERR/STDIN. STDOUT/STDERR/STDIN are constants, and
while you can actually reassign (possibly to redirect some stream)
constants in Ruby, you'll get an interpreter warning if you do so.
Use warn instead of $stderr.puts. Apart from being more concise
and clear, warn allows you to suppress warnings if you need to (by
setting the warn level to 0 via -W0).

Favor the use of sprintf and its alias format over the fairly
cryptic String#% method.

# bad
'%d %d' % [20, 10]
# => '20 10'

# good
sprintf('%d %d', 20, 10)
# => '20 10'

# good
sprintf('%{first} %{second}', first: 20, second: 10)
# => '20 10'

format('%d %d', 20, 10)
# => '20 10'

# good
format('%{first} %{second}', first: 20, second: 10)
# => '20 10'

Favor the use of Array#join over the fairly cryptic Array#* with
a string argument.

# bad
%w(one two three) * ', '
# => 'one, two, three'

# good
%w(one two three).join(', ')
# => 'one, two, three'

Use [*var] or Array() instead of explicit Array check, when dealing with a
variable you want to treat as an Array, but you're not certain it's
an array.

# bad
paths = [paths] unless paths.is_a? Array
paths.each { |path| do_something(path) }

# good
[*paths].each { |path| do_something(path) }

# good (and a bit more readable)
Array(paths).each { |path| do_something(path) }

Use ranges or Comparable#between? instead of complex comparison logic when possible.

# bad
do_something if x >= 1000 && x <= 2000

# good
do_something if (1000..2000).include?(x)

# good
do_something if x.between?(1000, 2000)

Favor the use of predicate methods to explicit comparisons with
==. Numeric comparisons are OK.

# bad
if x % 2 == 0
end

if x % 2 == 1
end

if x == nil
end

# good
if x.even?
end

if x.odd?
end

if x.nil?
end

if x.zero?
end

if x == 0
end

Don't do explicit non-nil checks unless you're dealing with boolean values.

# bad
do_something if !something.nil?
do_something if something != nil

# good
do_something if something

# good - dealing with a boolean
def value_set?
  [email protected]_boolean.nil?
end

Avoid the use of BEGIN blocks.

Never use END blocks. Use Kernel#at_exit instead.

# bad
END { puts 'Goodbye!' }

# good
at_exit { puts 'Goodbye!' }

Avoid the use of flip-flops.

Avoid use of nested conditionals for flow of control.

Prefer a guard clause when you can assert invalid data. A guard clause
is a conditional statement at the top of a function that bails out as
soon as it can.

# bad
def compute_thing(thing)
  if thing[:foo]
    update_with_bar(thing)
    if thing[:foo][:bar]
      partial_compute(thing)
    else
      re_compute(thing)
    end
  end
end

# good
def compute_thing(thing)
  return unless thing[:foo]
  update_with_bar(thing[:foo])
  return re_compute(thing) unless thing[:foo][:bar]
  partial_compute(thing)
end

Prefer next in loops instead of conditional blocks.

# bad
[0, 1, 2, 3].each do |item|
  if item > 1
    puts item
  end
end

# good
[0, 1, 2, 3].each do |item|
  next unless item > 1
  puts item
end

Last published over 7 years ago by David Kariuki.

syntax

Ruby-style-guide settings