> Copied from https://github.com/uudashr/gocognit/blob/5bf67146515e79acd2a8d5728deafa9d91ad48db/README.md
> License: MIT

[![GoDoc](https://godoc.org/github.com/uudashr/gocognit?status.svg)](https://godoc.org/github.com/uudashr/gocognit)
# Gocognit
Gocognit calculates cognitive complexities of functions in Go source code. A measurement of how hard does the code is intuitively to understand.

## Understanding the complexity

Given code using `if` statement,
```go
func GetWords(number int) string {
    if number == 1 {            // +1
        return "one"
    } else if number == 2 {     // +1
        return "a couple"
    } else if number == 3 {     // +1
        return "a few"
    } else {                    // +1
        return "lots"
    }
} // Cognitive complexity = 4
```

Above code can be refactored using `switch` statement,
```go
func GetWords(number int) string {
    switch number {             // +1
        case 1:
            return "one"
        case 2:
            return "a couple"
        case 3:
            return "a few"
        default:
            return "lots"
    }
} // Cognitive complexity = 1
```

As you see above codes are the same, but the second code are easier to understand, that is why the cognitive complexity score are lower compare to the first one.

## Comparison with cyclometic complexity

### Example 1
#### Cyclometic complexity
```go
func GetWords(number int) string {      // +1
    switch number {
        case 1:                         // +1
            return "one"
        case 2:                         // +1
            return "a couple"
        case 3:                         // +1
             return "a few"
        default:
             return "lots"
    }
} // Cyclomatic complexity = 4
```

####  Cognitive complexity
```go
func GetWords(number int) string {
    switch number {                     // +1
        case 1:
            return "one"
        case 2:
            return "a couple"
        case 3:
            return "a few"
        default:
            return "lots"
    }
} // Cognitive complexity = 1
```

Cognitive complexity give lower score compare to cyclomatic complexity.

### Example 2
#### Cyclomatic complexity
```go
func SumOfPrimes(max int) int {         // +1
    var total int

OUT:
    for i := 1; i < max; i++ {          // +1
        for j := 2; j < i; j++ {        // +1
            if i%j == 0 {               // +1
                continue OUT
            }
        }
        total += i
    }

    return total
} // Cyclomatic complexity = 4
```

#### Cognitive complexity
```go
func SumOfPrimes(max int) int {
    var total int

OUT:
    for i := 1; i < max; i++ {          // +1
        for j := 2; j < i; j++ {        // +2 (nesting = 1)
            if i%j == 0 {               // +3 (nesting = 2)
                continue OUT            // +1
            }
        }
        total += i
    }

    return total
} // Cognitive complexity = 7
```

Cognitive complexity give higher score compare to cyclomatic complexity.

## Rules

The cognitive complexity of a function is calculated according to the
following rules:
> Note: these rules are specific for Go, please see the [original whitepaper](./CognitiveComplexity.pdf) for more complete reference.

### Increments
There is an increment for each of the following:
1. `if`, `else if`, `else`
2. `switch`, `select`
3. `for`
4. `goto` LABEL, `break` LABEL, `continue` LABEL
5. sequence of binary logical operators
6. each method in a recursion cycle

### Nesting level
The following structures increment the nesting level:
1. `if`, `else if`, `else`
2. `switch`, `select`
3. `for`
4. function literal or lambda

### Nesting increments
The following structures receive a nesting increment commensurate with their nested depth inside nesting structures:
1. `if`
2. `switch`, `select`
3. `for`

## Installation

```
$ go install github.com/uudashr/gocognit/cmd/gocognit@latest
```

or 

```
$ go get github.com/uudashr/gocognit/cmd/gocognit
```

## Usage

```
$ gocognit
Calculate cognitive complexities of Go functions.
Usage:
        gocognit [flags] <Go file or directory> ...
Flags:
        -over N   show functions with complexity > N only and
                  return exit code 1 if the set is non-empty
        -top N    show the top N most complex functions only
        -avg      show the average complexity over all functions,
                  not depending on whether -over or -top are set
The output fields for each line are:
<complexity> <package> <function> <file:row:column>
```

Examples:

```
$ gocognit .
$ gocognit main.go
$ gocognit -top 10 src/
$ gocognit -over 25 docker
$ gocognit -avg .
```

The output fields for each line are:
```
<complexity> <package> <function> <file:row:column>
```

## Related project
- [Gocyclo](https://github.com/fzipp/gocyclo) where the code are based on.
- [Cognitive Complexity: A new way of measuring understandability](./CognitiveComplexity.pdf) white paper by G. Ann Campbell.
