Code quality

DIRAC code should be coded following the conventions explained in Coding Conventions. There are automatic tools that can help you to follow general good code quality rules.

Specifically, pylint, a static code analyzer, can be used. Pylint can give you nice suggestions, and might force you to code in a “standard” way. In any case, to use pylint on DIRAC code we have to supply a configuration file, otherwise pylint will assume that we are coding with standard rules, which is not fully the case: just to say, our choice was to use 2 spaces instead of 4, which is non-standard.

A pylint config file for DIRAC can be found here

Exercise:

Start a new branch from an existing remote one (call it, for example, codeQualityFixes). Run pylint (e.g. via pylint-gui) using the DIRAC.pylint.rc file on a file or 2. Then, commit your changes to your branch. Push this branch to origin, and then ask for a Pull Request using the DIRACGrid github page.

Remember to choose the correct remote branch on which your branch should be merged.

Remember to add a line or 2 of documentation for your PR.