Ruby

A `case and a chain of if/elsif statements is evaluated from top to bottom. At most, only one branch will be executed: the first one with a condition that evaluates to true.

Therefore, duplicating a condition automatically leads to dead code. Usually, this is due to a copy/paste error. At best, it’s simply dead code and at worst, it’s a bug that is likely to induce further bugs as the code is maintained, and obviously it could lead to unexpected behavior.

For a case, the second when` will never be executed, rendering it dead code. Worse there is the risk in this situation that future maintenance will be done on the dead case, rather than on the one that’s actually used.

Jump statements (return, break and next) move control flow out of the current code block. So any statements that come after a jump are dead code.

This rule applies whenever an `if statement is followed by one or more elsif statements; the final elsif should be followed by an else statement.

The requirement for a final else statement is defensive programming.

The else statement should either take appropriate action or contain a suitable comment as to why no action is taken. This is consistent with the requirement to have a final else clause in a case` statement.

Shared naming conventions allow teams to collaborate efficiently.

This rule raises an issue when a method name does not match a provided regular expression.

For example, with the default provided regular expression, the following method:

The case statement should be used only to clearly define some new branches in the control flow. As soon as a when clause contains too many statements this highly decreases the readability of the overall control flow statement. In such case, the content of the case clause should be extracted into a dedicated function.

Having all branches of a case or if chain with the same implementation indicates a problem.

In the following code:

The requirement for a final else clause is defensive programming. The clause should either take appropriate action, or contain a suitable comment as to why no action is taken.

Nested `case structures are difficult to understand because you can easily confuse the cases of an inner case as belonging to an outer statement. Therefore nested case statements should be avoided.

Specifically, you should structure your code to avoid the need for nested case statements, but if you cannot, then consider moving the inner case` to another function.

It is needlessly complex to invert the result of a boolean comparison. The opposite comparison should be made instead.

Putting multiple statements on a single line lowers the code readability and makes debugging the code more complex.

Unresolved directive in <stdin> - include::{noncompliant}[]

Write one statement per line to improve readability.

Unresolved directive in <stdin> - include::{compliant}[]

The complexity of an expression is defined by the number of &&, || and condition ? ifTrue : ifFalse operators it contains.

A single expression’s complexity should not become too high to keep the code readable.

Integer literals starting with a zero are octal rather than decimal values. While using octal values is fully supported, most developers do not have experience with them. They may not recognize octal values as such, mistaking them instead for decimal values.

Nested code - blocks of code inside blocks of code - is eventually necessary, but increases complexity. This is why keeping the code as flat as possible, by avoiding unnecessary nesting, is considered a good practice.

Merging if statements when possible will decrease the nesting of the code and improve its readability.

An empty {operationName} is generally considered bad practice and can lead to confusion, readability, and maintenance issues. Empty {operationName}s bring no functionality and are misleading to others as they might think the {operationName} implementation fulfills a specific and identified requirement.

There are several reasons for a {operationName} not to have a body:

Each source file should start with a header stating file ownership and the license which must be used to distribute the application.

This rule must be fed with the header text that is expected at the beginning of every file.

The use of parentheses, even those not required to enforce a desired order of operations, can clarify the intent behind a piece of code. However, redundant pairs of parentheses could be misleading and should be removed.

Shared naming conventions allow teams to collaborate efficiently.

This rule raises an issue when a class name does not match a provided regular expression.

There is no reason to re-assign a variable to itself. Either this statement is redundant and should be removed, or the re-assignment is a mistake and some other value or variable was intended for the assignment instead.

Duplicated string literals make the process of refactoring complex and error-prone, as any change would need to be propagated on all occurrences.

Two {func_name}s having the same implementation are suspicious. It might be that something else was intended. Or the duplication is intentional, which becomes a maintenance burden.

Hardcoding IP addresses is security-sensitive. It has led in the past to the following vulnerabilities:

Today’s services have an ever-changing architecture due to their scaling and redundancy needs. It is a mistake to think that a service will always have the same IP address. When it does change, the hardcoded IP will have to be modified too. This will have an impact on the product development, delivery, and deployment:

Last but not least it has an effect on application security. Attackers might be able to decompile the code and thereby discover a potentially sensitive address. They can perform a Denial of Service attack on the service, try to get access to the system, or try to spoof the IP address to bypass security checks. Such attacks can always be possible, but in the case of a hardcoded IP address solving the issue will take more time, which will increase an attack’s impact.

Developers often use TODO tags to mark areas in the code where additional work or improvements are needed but are not implemented immediately. However, these TODO tags sometimes get overlooked or forgotten, leading to incomplete or unfinished code. This rule aims to identify and address unattended TODO tags to ensure a clean and maintainable codebase. This description explores why this is a problem and how it can be fixed to improve the overall code quality.

`if statements with conditions that are always false have the effect of making blocks of code non-functional. if statements with conditions that are always true are completely redundant, and make the code less readable.

There are three possible causes for the presence of such code:

In any of these cases, unconditional if` statements should be removed.

An empty code block is confusing. It will require some effort from maintainers to determine if it is intentional or indicates the implementation is incomplete.

Unresolved directive in <stdin> - include::{example}[]

Removing or filling the empty code blocks takes away ambiguity and generally results in a more straightforward and less surprising code.

An unused local variable is a variable that has been declared but is not used anywhere in the block of code where it is defined. It is dead code, contributing to unnecessary complexity and leading to confusion when reading the code. Therefore, it should be removed from your code to maintain clarity and efficiency.

A naming convention in software development is a set of guidelines for naming code elements like variables, functions, and classes. {identifier_capital_plural} hold the meaning of the written code. Their names should be meaningful and follow a consistent and easily recognizable pattern. Adhering to a consistent naming convention helps to make the code more readable and understandable, which makes it easier to maintain and debug. It also ensures consistency in the code, especially when multiple developers are working on the same project.

This rule checks that {identifier} names match a provided regular expression.

Having two when clauses in a case statement or two branches in an if chain with the same implementation is at best duplicate code, and at worst a coding error.