The Ruff Formatter: An extremely fast, Black-compatible Python formatter
The Ruff formatter is a Python formatter written in Rust, boasting speeds over 30x faster than Black and 100x faster than YAPF. This allows it to format large-scale Python projects in milliseconds while maintaining more than 99.9% compatibility with Black. The Ruff formatter is a part of the Ruff toolchain, which began as a Python linter written in Rust. The formatter is designed to be a drop-in replacement for Black, ensuring minimal disruption for projects transitioning to it. It also offers configuration options, such as choosing between single and double quotes or different indentation styles. The formatter is integrated into the Ruff tool, eliminating the need for a separate package. It also supports Python 3.12 code and Jupyter notebooks and offers editor integrations for seamless formatting.
Performance Over Style:
The emphasis on performance by the Ruff formatter can significantly influence its adoption in the developer community for several reasons:
- Efficiency in Large Projects: For large-scale projects, formatting can be time-consuming. A formatter that can achieve the task in milliseconds can save developers a significant amount of time, especially when frequent formatting is required.
- Improved Developer Experience: Faster formatting can lead to a smoother and more responsive developer experience, especially in integrated development environments (IDEs) where real-time or on-save formatting is enabled.
- Reduced Waiting Time: Developers often multitask, and waiting for a formatter can disrupt their flow. A fast formatter can minimize these disruptions, allowing developers to maintain their focus.
- Attractiveness to Organizations: Speed can be especially crucial for organizations with vast codebases, and continuous integration (CI) pipelines run formatting checks. Faster formatting can lead to quicker CI runs, translating to more rapid feedback loops and deployments.
Unified Toolchain Vision:
A unified toolchain for Python can offer multiple benefits to developers:
- Streamlined Workflow: With tools designed to work together seamlessly, developers can avoid the complexities of making disparate tools cooperate, leading to a more straightforward and efficient workflow.
- Consistency: A unified toolchain can ensure that all tools follow the same conventions and standards, leading to more consistent codebases.
- Reduced Learning Curve: Instead of learning the intricacies of multiple tools, developers can familiarize themselves with a single, integrated toolchain, making onboarding easier.
- Better Integration: Tools in a unified toolchain can share features and functionalities. For instance, a linter can directly suggest formatting fixes that the formatter can apply, ensuring that the code not only adheres to style guidelines but is also free of linting errors.
Black Compatibility:
The high compatibility rate with Black can influence projects in the following ways:
- Easy Transition: Projects currently using Black can switch to Ruff without significant changes to their codebase, making the transition smooth and hassle-free.
- Trust and Reliability: Black is a well-respected tool in the Python community. By ensuring compatibility, Ruff can leverage the trust developers have in Black, making them more open to trying out Ruff.
- Minimal Disruption: For teams familiar with Black’s style and conventions, adopting Ruff won’t require them to relearn or adjust to a new formatting style.
- Flexibility with Familiarity: While Ruff maintains compatibility with Black, it offers additional configuration options. This means teams can enjoy the familiarity of Black’s style while also having the flexibility to tweak certain aspects if desired.
The original article is “The Ruff Formatter.”