linter
ΒΆ
Logtalk provides a built-in linter tool that runs automatically when compiling and loading source files. The lint warnings are controlled by a set of flags. The default values for these flags are defined in the backend Prolog compiler adapter files and can be overriden from a settings file or from a source file (e.g. a loader file). These flags can be set globally using the set_logtalk_flag/2 built-in predicate. For (source file or entity) local scope, use instead the set_logtalk_flag/2 directive.
By loading the tutor
tool, most lint warnings are expanded with
explanations and suggestions on how to fix the reported issues.
Note that, in some cases, the linter may generate false warnings due to source code analysis limitations or special cases that, while valid when intended, usually result from programming issues. When a code rewrite is not a sensible solution to avoid the warning, the workaround is to turn off locally the flag that controls the warning.
Lint checks include:
Missing directives (including scope, meta-predicate, dynamic, discontiguous, and multifile directives)
Duplicated directives, clauses, and grammar rules
Missing predicates (calls to non-declared and non-defined predicates)
Calls to declared but not defined static predicates
Non-portable predicate calls, predicate options, arithmetic function calls, directives, flags, and flag values
Suspicious calls (syntactically valid calls that are likely semantic errors)
Deprecated directives, predicates, control constructs, and flags
References to unknown entities (objects, protocols, categories, or modules)
Top-level shortcuts used as directives
Unification goals that will succeed without binding any variables
Unification goals that will succeed creating a cyclic term
Goals that are always true or always false
Trivial goal fails (due to no matching predicate clause)
Redefined built-in predicates
Redefined standard operators
Lambda expression unclassified variables and mixed up variables
Lambda expression with parameter variables used elsewhere in a clause
Singleton variables
If-then-else and soft cut control constructs without an else part
Cuts in clauses for multifile predicates
Missing cut in repeat loops
Possible non-steadfast predicate definitions
Redundant calls to control constructs and built-in predicates
Calls to all-solutions predicates with existentially qualified variables not occurring in the qualified goal
Calls to all-solutions predicates with no shared variables between template and goal
Calls to
bagof/3
andsetof/3
where the goal argument contains singleton variablesCalls to standard predicates that have more efficient alternatives
Entity, predicate, and variable names not following official coding guidelines
Variable names that differ only on case
Additional checks are provided by the make
and dead_code_scanner
tools. For large projects, the data generated by the
code_metrics tool
may also be relevant in accessing the quality of
your code.