index.rst

Welcome to the coala documentation!

.. toctree::
   :caption: Home
   :hidden:

   Welcome <self>

.. toctree::
   :caption: For Users
   :hidden:

   Installing coala <Users/Install>
   Getting Started with coala <Users/Tutorial>
   Writing a coala Configuration File (coafile and coarc) <Users/coafile>
   Using Glob Patterns <Users/Glob_Patterns>
   Exit Codes <Users/Exit_Codes>
   External APIs <Users/External_APIs>
   Adding coala as a Git Hook <Users/coala_as_Git_Hook>
   Shell Autocompletion <Users/Shell_Autocompletion>
   coala as a Docker Image <Users/Docker_Image>

.. toctree::
   :caption: For Developers
   :hidden:

   Newcomers' Guide <Developers/Newcomers_Guide>
   Bear Installation Tool <Developers/Bear_Installation_Tool>
   Writing Good Commit Messages <Developers/Writing_Good_Commits>
   Codestyle <Developers/Codestyle>
   Git Basics <Developers/Git_Basics>
   Review <Developers/Review>
   Development Setup <Developers/Development_Setup>
   Writing Bears <Developers/Writing_Bears>
   Writing Linter Bears <Developers/Writing_Linter_Bears>
   Linter Bears - Advanced <Users/Tutorials/Linter_Bears_Advanced>
   External Bears <Developers/External_Bears>
   Testing Bears <Developers/Testing_Bears>
   Writing Tests <Developers/Writing_Tests>
   Writing Documentation <Developers/Writing_Documentation>
   Executing Tests <Developers/Executing_Tests>

.. toctree::
   :caption: Help
   :hidden:

   How To Get In Touch With Us <Help/Getting_In_Touch>
   Frequently Asked Questions <Help/FAQ>
   MAC Hints <Help/MAC_Hints>

You might also want to look at our website.

coala: Language Independent Code Analysis

coala provides a unified command-line interface for linting and fixing all your code, regardless of the programming languages you use.

With coala, users can create :doc:`rules and standards <Users/coafile>` to be followed in the source code. coala has an user-friendly interface that is completely customizable. It can be used in any environment and is completely modular.

coala has a set of official bears (plugins) for several languages, including popular languages such as C/C++, Python, JavaScript, CSS, Java and many more, in addition to some generic language independent algorithms. To learn more about the different languages supported and the bears themselves, click here.

Note

To see what coala can do for you and your language, take a look at our capabilities listing.

If you are here to use coala for your own projects, take a look at our :doc:`installation guide<Users/Install>`.

If you want to start contributing to coala, you can follow our :doc:`tutorial for newcomers<Developers/Newcomers_Guide>` which aims to get everyone to fix an issue by themselves.

Note

To contact us, always feel free to check our :doc:`Getting In Touch<Help/Getting_In_Touch>` page.

What do I get?

As a User

coala allows you to simply check your code against certain quality requirements. The checking routines are named Bears in coala. You can easily define a simple project file to check your project with all bears either shipped with coala or ones you found in the internet and trust.

As a Developer

If you are not satisfied with the functionality given by the bears we provide, you can easily write your own bears. coala is written with easiness of extension in mind. That means: no big boilerplate, just write one small object with one routine, add the parameters you like and see how coala automates the organization of settings, user interaction and execution parallelization. You shouldn't need to care about anything else than just writing your algorithm!

.. seealso::

  Check out :doc:`Writing Bears <Developers/Writing_Bears>` for more
  information on this.

Also, coala provides an external API using the dbus message protocol. This allows other applications to easily use the code analysis functionalities coala provides in their applications.

.. seealso::

  Check :doc:`External APIs <Users/External_APIs>` for more information.

Status and Stability of the Project

We are currently working hard to make this project reality. coala is currently usable, in beta stage and already provides more features than most language dependent alternatives. Every single commit is fully reviewed and checked with various automated methods including our testsuite covering all branches. Our master branch is continuously prereleased to our users so you can rely on the upcoming release being rock stable.

If you want to see how the development progresses, check out coala and coala-bears.