Anthropomorphizing linters

I have noticed a habit that I think is interesting.

When the linter shows that there is an error, or is warning me about something, it is “complaining” or “unhappy.” When I make the error go away (or suppress it …), I have “made the linter happy.”

Of course the linter is just a series of rules. There is no being there, inside my computer, actually complaining about the lack of a semicolon. It is not grateful when I add the semi-colon.

And yet, speaking in this way about the linter makes the most sense, is the most descriptive, and in many ways the most rewarding. It feels good to make the linter happy.

Be happy linter, that my code may be happy and run bug-free.