Pylint configuration

bruce-wayne · June 10, 2023, 6:23am

I’d like to run pylint locally with the same configuration as the python-analyzer does. It seems it uses some non-default options, like --check-quote-consistency is turned on (off by default). This causes a problem because code that is “clean” locally generates warnings upon submission.

Can you provide a configuration file for pylint?

Originally created as an issue here that was closed: pylint configuration · Issue #64 · exercism/python-analyzer · GitHub

MatthijsBlom · June 10, 2023, 7:03am

github.com

exercism/python-analyzer/blob/main/lib/common/.pylintrc

###########################################################################
# This common pylintrc file contains a best-effort configuration to uphold the
# best-practices and style for the Python track exercises of exercism.org.
#
# This file is used when there is no exercise-specific pylintrc.
# When there is an exercise-specific pylintrc, this config file is ignored
# in favor of the exercise-specific config.
#
# As a default, all warnings and checks are "turned on", although that may
# change in the future, as we decide which rules to enforce for all exercises.
#
# **A note on single letter variable names.**
# See this Stack Overflow discussion:
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21833872/why-does-pylint-object-to-single-character-variable-names
# for why this is enforced.
###########################################################################


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bruce-wayne · June 10, 2023, 9:20am

@MatthijsBlom Note that this file generates warnings like the one given below:

pylint: Command line or configuration file:1: UserWarning: Specifying exception names in the overgeneral-exceptions option without module name is deprecated and support for it will be removed in pylint 3.0. Use fully qualified name (maybe 'builtins.BaseException' ?) instead.

I fixed it locally by using the FQN.

MatthijsBlom · June 10, 2023, 9:46am

@BethanyG you might want to note this.

BethanyG · June 10, 2023, 9:07pm

Duly noted. I’ll do a sweep of the repo config and the analyzer config this weekend. Thanks for letting me know!

bruce-wayne · June 10, 2023, 11:01pm

@BethanyG @MatthijsBlom Also, single-variable names are declared bad in the config, with a reference to a StackOverflow thread. However, there’s no consensus in that thread, and most people actually said they didn’t want such a setting. Also, Python now supports typing hints, so, variable names aren’t the only things that help understand code.

Consider the following:

return [c for c in candidates if (x := c.upper()) != w and Counter(x) == freq]

There’s really no reason to use anything other than c and x in the code above. In adds nothing to code legibility, other than forced verbosity. Please reevaluate the setting for single-variable names.

FWIW, I’ve disabled the following for my GitHub runs: C0103,C0104,C0114,C0116.

BethanyG · June 11, 2023, 12:20am

@bruce-wayne - we follow PEP-8, and have the additional restriction of no single letter variable names anywhere. Whether or not it is considered debatable or controversial. It’s not open for discussion ATM. If the SO post ref in the config makes that confusing, I will remove it.

Additionally, type hints are optional, and since we do not use MyPy for Exercism, they are not required/used or checked.

You can, of course use whatever you like in your PyLint config (and also write code whichever way you like), but if you get feedback on single letter variable names, don’t be surprised.