linted

Linted is the past participle of lint, used to describe source code or text that has been analyzed by a linter. A linter is a tool that scans code to identify potential errors, suspicious constructs, stylistic inconsistencies, and potential bugs, according to a defined set of rules. The term lint originates from the Unix utility lint, created for C in the late 1970s, and has since broadened to support many programming languages.

Linting typically covers undefined variables, unreachable code, syntax issues, unused imports, naming conventions, and formatting. Configuration files tailor rules, and common linters include ESLint for JavaScript, Pylint for Python, RuboCop for Ruby, and clang-tidy for C/C++.

In practice, code is linted during development or in continuous integration. Developers may run linters locally, integrate into editors, or attach to pre-commit hooks or CI pipelines. A project may require that code be linted before merging; linted code is generally expected to adhere to the configured rules, though many linters report warnings rather than blocking errors.

Limitations of linting include its focus on static analysis of style and certain kinds of issues, which means it may miss runtime problems. It can also produce false positives and its usefulness depends on the quality and relevance of the configured rules.

Overall, linting has become a common part of software development, aimed at improving readability, consistency, and early detection of problems, and is typically integrated into development workflows and code review processes.