Linting preprocessors
Not all preprocessors convert code. Some clean up after us and look for the bugs we’ve missed. The original Unix command-line tool, lint, has metastasized and now its functions are found as preprocessors in many language development stacks. These linting tools, or linters, fix formatting, enforce naming conventions, and even fix some syntactic and semantic errors. Some enforce rules that flag potential security flaws from bad logic. Popular versions include RuboCop for Ruby code, Pylint for Python, and ESLint for JavaScript (ECMAScript).
Preprocessors for documentation
Some preprocessors produce something other than runnable code. Tools like Sphinx, MkDocs, and Doxygen analyze your files and create an annotated and cross-referenced set of documentation files directly from code. These tools are designed to work with multiple languages but almost all the languages have their own official preprocessor. Popular examples include Javadoc, Rustdoc, Godoc, and JSDoc.
Preprocessors for integrated data reporting
Data scientists don’t just speak R. They also write out complex data reports in a human language filled with charts, tables, and graphs created by R. Over the years, data scientists have created complex preprocessors for not only R but also LaTeX, the typesetting language. The scientist writes everything in R and human language, then the preprocessor splits it up, sending the computational instructions to R and the typesetting instructions to LaTeX. At the same time, it juggles the parts so the pictures produced by R end up in the right place in your document. LaTeX then folds them into the eventual PDF that’s produced from the human language parts of the file. It does all this while also organizing page references and illustration numbers to be consistent.
