What we eval in the shadows: A large-scale study of eval in R programs
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21240%2F21%3A00354132" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21240/21:00354132 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3485502" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1145/3485502</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3485502" target="_blank" >10.1145/3485502</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
What we eval in the shadows: A large-scale study of eval in R programs
Original language description
Most dynamic languages allow users to turn text into code using various functions, often named eval, with language-dependent semantics. The widespread use of these reflective functions hinders static analysis and prevents compilers from performing optimizations. This paper aims to provide a better sense of why programmers use eval. Understanding why eval is used in practice is key to finding ways to mitigate its negative impact. We have reasons to believe that reflective feature usage is language and application domain-specific; we focus on data science code written in R and compare our results to previous work that analyzed web programming in JavaScript. We analyze 49,296,059 calls to eval from 240,327 scripts extracted from 15,401 R packages. We find that eval is indeed in widespread use; R's eval is more pervasive and arguably dangerous than what was previously reported for JavaScript.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>ost</sub> - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/EF15_003%2F0000421" target="_blank" >EF15_003/0000421: Big Code: Scalable Analysis of Massive Code Bases</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages (PACMPL)
ISSN
2475-1421
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
5
Issue of the periodical within the volume
OOPSLA
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
23
Pages from-to
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UT code for WoS article
000731569200029
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85117586856