Ruby style guide

Ruby style guide for Wego

Source Code Layout
Syntax
Naming
Comments
Classes & Modules
Exceptions
Collections
Strings
Regular Expressions
Percent Literals
Misc

Source Code Layout

Use UTF-8 as the source file encoding.
Keep lines fewer than 80 characters.
Never leave trailing whitespace.

Use two spaces per indentation level. No hard tabs.

# bad - four spaces
def some_method
    do_something
end

# good
def some_method
  do_something
end

Use spaces around operators, after commas, colons and semicolons, around { and before }.

sum = 1 + 2
a, b = 1, 2
1 > 2 ? true : false; puts 'Hi'
[1, 2, 3].each { |e| puts e }

The only exception is when using the exponent operator:

# bad
e = M * c ** 2

# good
e = M * c**2

No spaces after (, [ or before ], ).
```
some(arg).other
[1, 2, 3].length
```

Indent when as deep as case.

case
when song.name == 'Misty'
  puts 'Not again!'
when song.duration > 120
  puts 'Too long!'
when Time.now.hour > 21
  puts "It's too late"
else
  song.play
end

kind = case year
       when 1850..1889 then 'Blues'
       when 1890..1909 then 'Ragtime'
       when 1910..1929 then 'New Orleans Jazz'
       when 1930..1939 then 'Swing'
       when 1940..1950 then 'Bebop'
       else 'Jazz'
       end

Use empty lines between defs and to break up a method into logical paragraphs.

def some_method
  data = initialize(options)

  data.manipulate!

  data.result
end

def some_method
  result
end

Syntax

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

 def some_method
   # body omitted
 end

 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

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

Never use then for multi-line if/unless.

# bad
if some_condition then
  # body omitted
end

# good
if some_condition
  # body omitted
end

Avoid the ternary operator (?:) except in cases where all expressions are extremely trivial. However, do use the ternary operator over if/then/else/end constructs for single line conditionals.
```
# 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

Use &&/|| for boolean expressions, and/or for control flow. (Rule of thumb: If you have to use outer parentheses, you are using the wrong operators.)

# boolean expression
if some_condition && some_other_condition
  do_something
end

# control flow
document.saved? or 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 and/or.

# bad
if some_condition
  do_something
end

# good
do_something if some_condition

# another good option
some_condition and do_something

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

# bad
do_something if !some_condition

# good
do_something unless some_condition

# another good option
some_condition or 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, unless the condition contains an assignment.

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

# good
if x > 10
  # body omitted
end

# ok
if (x = self.next_value)
  # body omitted
end

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?

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

Use spaces around the = operator when assigning default values to method parameters:

# bad
def some_method(arg1=:default, arg2=nil, arg3=[])
  # do something...
end

# good
def some_method(arg1 = :default, arg2 = nil, arg3 = [])
  # do something...
end

Avoid line continuation (\) where not required. In practice, avoid using line continuations at all.

# bad
result = 1 - \
         2

# good (but still ugly as hell)
result = 1 \
         - 2

When using = (an assignment) in a conditional expression, surround it in parentheses to indicate that the assignment is intentional.
```
if (v = next_value) == "hello"
  do_something(v)
  ...
end
```

Use ||= freely to initialize variables.

# 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?

Avoid using Perl-style special variables (like $0-9, $, etc. ). They are quite cryptic and their use in anything but one-liner scripts is discouraged.
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).

Use the new lambda literal syntax.

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

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

Use _ for unused block parameters.

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

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

Naming

Name identifiers in English.

# bad - variable name written in Bulgarian with latin characters
zaplata = 1000

# good
salary = 1000

Use snake_case for symbols, methods and variables.

# bad
:'some symbol'
:SomeSymbol
:someSymbol

someVar = 5

def someMethod
  ...
end

def SomeMethod
 ...
end

# good
:some_symbol

def some_method
  ...
end

Use CamelCase for classes and modules. (Keep acronyms like HTTP, RFC, XML uppercase.)

# bad
class Someclass
  ...
end

class Some_Class
  ...
end

class SomeXml
  ...
end

# good
class SomeClass
  ...
end

class SomeXML
  ...
end

Use SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE for other constants.

# bad
SomeConst = 5

# good
SOME_CONST = 5

The names of predicate methods (methods that return a boolean value) should end in a question mark. (i.e. Array#empty?).

The names of potentially dangerous methods (i.e. methods that modify self or the arguments, exit! (doesn't run the finalizers like exit does), etc.) should end with an exclamation mark if there exists a safe version of that dangerous method.

# bad - there is not matching 'safe' method
class Person
  def update!
  end
end

# good
class Person
  def update
  end
end

# good
class Person
  def update!
  end

  def update
  end
end

Define the non-bang (safe) method in terms of the bang (dangerous) one if possible.

class Array
  def flatten_once!
    res = []

    each do |e|
      [*e].each { |f| res << f }
    end

    replace(res)
  end

  def flatten_once
    dup.flatten_once!
  end
end

Prefer map over collect, find over detect, select over find_all, reduce over inject and size over length. This is not a hard requirement; if the use of the alias enhances readability, it's ok to use it. The rhyming methods are inherited from Smalltalk and are not common in other programming languages. The reason the use of select is encouraged over find_all is that it goes together nicely with reject and its name is pretty self-explanatory.
Use flat_map instead of map + flatten. This does not apply for arrays with a depth greater than 2, i.e. if users.first.songs == ['a', ['b','c']], then use map + flatten rather than flat_map. flat_map flattens the array by 1, whereas flatten flattens it all the way.
```
# bad
all_songs = users.map(&:songs).flatten.uniq

# good
all_songs = users.flat_map(&:songs).uniq
```

Comments

Write self-documenting code and ignore the rest of this section. Seriously!
Write comments in English.
Comments longer than a word are capitalized and use punctuation. Use one space after periods.

Avoid superfluous comments.

# bad
counter += 1 # increments counter by one

Keep existing comments up-to-date. An outdated comment is worse than no comment at all.
Avoid writing comments to explain bad code. Refactor the code to make it self-explanatory.
Annotations should usually be written on the line immediately above the relevant code.
The annotation keyword is followed by a colon and a space, then a note describing the problem.

Use TomDoc for method documentation. An example:

# Public: Duplicate some text an arbitrary number of times.
#
# text  - The String to be duplicated.
# count - The Integer number of times to duplicate the text.
#
# Examples
#
#   multiplex('Tom', 4)
#   # => 'TomTomTomTom'
#
# Returns the duplicated String.
def multiplex(text, count)
  text * count
end

In cases where the problem is so obvious that any documentation would be redundant, annotations may be left at the end of the offending line with no note. This usage should be the exception and not the rule.
```
def bar
  sleep 100 # OPTIMIZE
end
```
Use TODO to note missing features or functionality that should be added at a later date.
Use FIXME to note broken code that needs to be fixed.
Use OPTIMIZE to note slow or inefficient code that may cause performance problems.
Use HACK to note code smells where questionable coding practices were used and should be refactored away.
Use REVIEW to note anything that should be looked at to confirm it is working as intended. For example: REVIEW: Are we sure this is how the client does X currently?
Use other custom annotation keywords if it feels appropriate, but be sure to document them in your project's README or similar.

Classes & Modules

Prefer modules to classes with only class methods. Classes should be used only when it makes sense to create instances out of them.

# bad
class SomeClass
  def self.some_method
    # body omitted
  end

  def self.some_other_method
  end
end

# good
module SomeClass
  module_function

  def some_method
    # body omitted
  end

  def some_other_method
  end
end

Favor the use of module_function over extend self when you want to turn a module's instance methods into class methods.

# bad
module Utilities
  extend self

  def parse_something(string)
    # do stuff here
  end

  def other_utility_method(number, string)
    # do some more stuff
  end
end

# good
module Utilities
  module_function

  def parse_something(string)
    # do stuff here
  end

  def other_utility_method(number, string)
    # do some more stuff
  end
end

Use the attr family of functions to define trivial accessors or mutators.

# bad
class Person
  def initialize(first_name, last_name)
    @first_name = first_name
    @last_name = last_name
  end

  def first_name
    @first_name
  end

  def last_name
    @last_name
  end
end

# good
class Person
  attr_reader :first_name, :last_name

  def initialize(first_name, last_name)
    @first_name = first_name
    @last_name = last_name
  end
end

Prefer duck-typing over inheritance.

# bad
class Animal
  # abstract method
  def speak
  end
end

# extend superclass
class Duck < Animal
  def speak
    puts 'Quack! Quack'
  end
end

# extend superclass
class Dog < Animal
  def speak
    puts 'Bau! Bau!'
  end
end

# good
class Duck
  def speak
    puts 'Quack! Quack'
  end
end

class Dog
  def speak
    puts 'Bau! Bau!'
  end
end

Avoid the usage of class (@@) variables due to their "nasty" behavior in inheritance.
```
class Parent
  @@class_var = 'parent'

  def self.print_class_var
    puts @@class_var
  end
end

class Child < Parent
  @@class_var = 'child'
end

Parent.print_class_var # => will print "child"
```
As you can see all the classes in a class hierarchy actually share one class variable. Class instance variables should usually be preferred over class variables.
Assign proper visibility levels to methods (private, protected) in accordance with their intended usage. Don't go off leaving everything public (which is the default). After all we're coding in Ruby now, not in Python.
Indent the public, protected, and private methods as much the method definitions they apply to. Leave one blank line above the visibility modifier and one blank line below in order to emphasize that it applies to all methods below it.
```
class SomeClass
  def public_method
    # ...
  end

  private

  def private_method
    # ...
  end

  def another_private_method
    # ...
  end
end
```

Use def self.method to define singleton methods. This makes the code easier to refactor since the class name is not repeated.

class TestClass
  # bad
  def TestClass.some_method
    # body omitted
  end

  # good
  def self.some_other_method
    # body omitted
  end
end

Avoid using class << self blocks to define singleton methods. Use def self.method instead.

class Hotel
  # bad
  class << self
    def first_method
      # body omitted
    end

    def second_method_etc
      # body omitted
    end
  end

  # good
  def self.first_method
    # body omitted
  end

  def self.second_method_etc
    # body omitted
  end
end

Exceptions

Never return from an ensure block. If you explicitly return from a method inside an ensure block, the return will take precedence over any exception being raised, and the method will return as if no exception had been raised at all. In effect, the exception will be silently thrown away.
```
def foo
  begin
    fail
  ensure
    return 'very bad idea'
  end
end
```

Use implicit begin blocks where possible.

# bad
def foo
  begin
    # main logic goes here
  rescue
    # failure handling goes here
  end
end

# good
def foo
  # main logic goes here
rescue
  # failure handling goes here
end

Avoid using rescue in its modifier form.

# bad - this catches all StandardError exceptions
do_something rescue nil

Don't use exceptions for flow of control.

# bad
begin
  n / d
rescue ZeroDivisionError
  puts 'Cannot divide by 0!'
end

# good
if d.zero?
  puts 'Cannot divide by 0!'
else
  n / d
end

Avoid rescuing the Exception class. This will trap signals and calls to exit, requiring you to kill -9 the process.

# bad
begin
  # calls to exit and kill signals will be caught (except kill -9)
  exit
rescue Exception
  puts "you didn't really want to exit, right?"
  # exception handling
end

# good
begin
  # a blind rescue rescues from StandardError, not Exception as many
  # programmers assume.
rescue => e
  # exception handling
end

# also good
begin
  # an exception occurs here

rescue StandardError => e
  # exception handling
end

Put more specific exceptions higher up the rescue chain, otherwise they'll never be rescued from.

# bad
begin
  # some code
rescue Exception => e
  # some handling
rescue StandardError => e
  # some handling
end

# good
begin
  # some code
rescue StandardError => e
  # some handling
rescue Exception => e
  # some handling
end

Release external resources obtained by your program in an ensure block.

f = File.open('testfile')
begin
  # .. process
rescue
  # .. handle error
ensure
  f.close unless f.nil?
end

Favor the use of exceptions for the standard library over introducing new exception classes.

Collections

Prefer literal array and hash creation notation (unless you need to pass parameters to their constructors, that is).
```
# bad
arr = Array.new
hash = Hash.new

# good
arr = []
hash = {}
```

Prefer %w to the literal array syntax when you need an array of strings.

# bad
STATES = ['draft', 'open', 'closed']

# good
STATES = %w(draft open closed)

Use Set instead of Array when dealing with unique elements. Set implements a collection of unordered values with no duplicates. This is a hybrid of Array's intuitive inter-operation facilities and Hash's fast lookup.

Prefer symbols instead of strings as hash keys.

# bad
hash = { 'one' => 1, 'two' => 2, 'three' => 3 }

# good
hash = { one: 1, two: 2, three: 3 }

Avoid the use of mutable objects as hash keys.
Never modify a collection while traversing it.

Strings

Prefer string interpolation instead of string concatenation:

# bad
email_with_name = user.name + ' <' + user.email + '>'

# good
email_with_name = "#{user.name} <#{user.email}>"

Prefer single-quoted strings when you don't need string interpolation or special symbols such as \t, \n, ', etc.
```
# bad
name = "Bozhidar"

# good
name = 'Bozhidar'
```
Avoid using String#+ when you need to construct large data chunks. Instead, use String#<<. Concatenation mutates the string instance in-place and is always faster than String#+, which creates a bunch of new string objects.
```
# good and also fast
html = ''
html << '<h1>Page title</h1>'

paragraphs.each do |paragraph|
  html << "<p>#{paragraph}</p>"
end
```

Regular Expressions

Don't use regular expressions if you just need plain text search in string: string['text']

Avoid using $1-9 as it can be hard to track what they contain. Named groups can be used instead.

# bad
/(regexp)/ =~ string
...
process $1

# good
/(?<meaningful_var>regexp)/ =~ string
...
process meaningful_var

Be careful with ^ and $ as they match start/end of line, not string endings. If you want to match the whole string use: \A and \z (not to be confused with \Z which is the equivalent of /\n?\z/).
```
string = "some injection\nusername"
string[/^username$/]   # matches
string[/\Ausername\z/] # don't match
```

Use x modifier for complex regexps. This makes them more readable and you can add some useful comments. Just be careful as spaces are ignored.

regexp = %r{
  start         # some text
  \s            # white space char
  (group)       # first group
  (?:alt1|alt2) # some alternation
  end
}x

Percent Literals

Use %() for single-line strings which require both interpolation and embedded double-quotes. For multi-line strings, prefer heredocs.

# bad (no interpolation needed)
%(<div class="text">Some text</div>)
# should be '<div class="text">Some text</div>'

# bad (no double-quotes)
%(This is #{quality} style)
# should be "This is #{quality} style"

# bad (multiple lines)
%(<div>\n<span class="big">#{exclamation}</span>\n</div>)
# should be a heredoc.

# good (requires interpolation, has quotes, single line)
%(<tr><td class="name">#{name}</td>)

Use %r only for regular expressions matching more than one '/' character.

# bad
%r(\s+)

# still bad
%r(^/(.*)$)
# should be /^\/(.*)$/

# good
%r(^/blog/2011/(.*)$)

Prefer () as delimiters for all % literals.

Misc

Write ruby -w safe code, i.e. code should not produce any warnings.
Avoid hashes as optional parameters. Does the method do too much?
Avoid methods longer than 10 LOC (lines of code). Ideally, most methods will be shorter than 5 LOC. Empty lines do not contribute to the relevant LOC.
Avoid parameter lists longer than three or four parameters.
If you really need "global" methods, add them to Kernel and make them private.
Avoid alias when alias_method will do.
Use OptionParser for parsing complex command line options and ruby -s for trivial command line options.
Code in a functional way, avoiding mutation when that makes sense.
Do not mutate arguments unless that is the purpose of the method.
Avoid more than three levels of block nesting.
Be consistent. In an ideal world, be consistent with these guidelines.
Use common sense.

Attribution

The conventions and rules here are taken from the Ruby Style Guide and Github's internal Ruby style guide.

Wego Engineering