March 11, 2015 Less than a 1 minute read

Use Plato for performing quick code review, static and complexity analysis on JavaScript

Automated Code Review – JavaScript

Today, I will provide example of performing a quick and easy way to conduct automated code review on your javascript source.

Pre-requisite

Nodejs and NPM

Install Plato (One time setup)

Plato is a “JavaScript source code visualization, static analysis and complexity tool”

Run the following command in your

Command Prompt (Windows)
- npm install -g plato
Terminal (Mac)
- sudo npm install -g plato
- You would be asked to type your system’s password

Analyze the code

Open Terminal (Or Command Prompt in Windows)
CD to the project root directory (or to www where your javascript files are stored)
Run following command
- plato -r -d reports ./
Access the reports in directory named “reports”

Pro tips

If you run the plato check often during development, the report will show the changes (positive / negative) in the number of issues being reported. And the underlying jshint review tool is completely configurable to include / exclude various checks. Read manual in the links supplied.