Black – Uncompromising Python code formatter

We are using a pre-commit hook but I also have an on-save hook in my editor. Further, we also have a CI job that runs `black --check` which returns 1 (failing the build) if the files weren't completely formatted with black. In Go, the convention is that everyone's editor runs gofmt on change, and because the convention is so strong, that's usually enough (although many larger projects also have a CI job similar to the one described above).

Having used both extensively, my biggest grievances (in order) are that there aren't more editors that with good on-save support, that black is relatively slow (compared to gofmt), and that black isn't more opinionated and less configurable.

CI runs a linter and fails the build if the output is non-empty. PRs can't be merged unless the build passes on the branch.

I run this as a job in my build pipeline:

black --diff

black --check

The first one shows you what's different (so you have logs in your build job), the second one fails your job if there are any diffs. You could just do the second one if you're a fan of the whole brevity thing.

I've been using it for a few months now, but I don't really like it. It does remove quabbles about formatting, but I've personally never felt that as a problem and it just replaces them with constant frustration.

I think code formatting is very important for readability, and I think many (subtle) choices about how to make a piece of code more readable are very subjective. These types of tools are just incapable to make those choices because they have no concept of intention.

And some rules make this painfully obvious even in less subjective cases. Eg: black formats dictionaries into a single line if they fit one line, which makes nested structures unreadable if they combine bigger and smaller sub-dictionaries.

In the end, I don't have problems with other peoples' formatting choices; as long as they are sufficiently consistent within their own style, which they usually are, I can live just fine with them even when they go against how I'd do things.

I do have problems with tools that reduce code readability for consistency's sake and argue that these provide little benefit, and may even be detrimental to code quality.

Let me know when it's available as a Vim plugin.