Pybites Podcast #196: Robin Quintero on Complexipy
Jul 16, 2025
Robin Quintero, creator of Complexipy, shares insights from his journey in developing an ultra-fast cognitive complexity analyzer for Python, built in Rust. He discusses how his frustrations with slow tools inspired the project and the positive feedback from teams using it for quicker, clearer code reviews. The conversation also touches on future enhancements like multi-language support and AI-driven features, along with the challenges and benefits of integrating Rust with Python. Robin emphasizes the importance of maintainable code and community collaboration.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Building Complexipy from Frustration
- Robin created Complexipy out of frustration with existing slow cognitive complexity tools in Python.
- He implemented it in Rust to achieve fast analysis and integrated it seamlessly with Python tooling.
Cognitive Complexity vs Cyclomatic
- Cognitive complexity gives a more accurate measure of code understandability than cyclomatic complexity.
- It emphasizes maintainability by penalizing convoluted constructs and encouraging clear code structure.
Rust Boosts Python Tooling Speed
- Use Rust with maturin to easily build fast Python extensions.
- Exploit Rust's real parallelism to overcome Python's GIL limitations for speed.
