At work, I mostly write C# code using the great JetBrains Rider IDE. To add some features to the already great feature set I use some plugins that I will share in this article.

# Cognitive Complexity

The Cognitive Complexity plugin tells you when your methods start to get out of hand. It calculates a score for each method that is based on the paper G. Ann Campbell in Cognitive Complexity - A new way of measuring understandability. This score is composed primarily of the nesting of statements and the control flow structures used in the method. The plugin gives you a nice badge above each method that indicates how complicated it seems according to its score. The score is updated while the code is written so you get instant feedback.

I like this plugin because it offers an objective rating of the complicatedness of a method which can be discussed with other developers. Like with every metric this one should not be used without thinking. Just because a method is rated “simple enough” by the plugin it does not mean that is not actually “very complex” and vice versa.

# String Manipulation

All your String Manipulation needs will be satisfied by this one. It can do so many things: converting casing like PascalCase to snake_case, escaping text, encoding text, sorting lines, trimming, aligning multiple carets, converting dates, or even inserting a sequence of numbers. I do not need this often but when I do this plugin never disappoints me.

# Nyan Progress Bar

Progress bars are boring and I have to admit that Rider does show them occasionally. To make the experience more entertaining I highly recommend installing the Nyan Progress Bar 🐈 and if you can’t get enough just visit nyan.cat.