Chapter 5 Dynamically Typed Languages

Tratt, Laurence

doi:10.1016/s0065-2458(09)01205-4

Cited by 48 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…While many authors state that static type systems are extremely important (see again [2], [14], [4]), others hold opposite views (for instance, [22]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems? An empirical study

Kleinschmager

Robbes

Stefik

et al. 2012

2012 20th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC)

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Abstract-Static type systems play an essential role in contemporary programming languages. Despite their importance, whether static type systems influence human software development capabilities remains an open question. One frequently mentioned argument for static type systems is that they improve the maintainability of software systems-an often used claim for which there is no empirical evidence. This paper describes an experiment which tests whether static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems. The results show rigorous empirical evidence that static type are indeed beneficial to these activities, except for fixing semantic errors.

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“…While many authors state that static type systems are extremely important (see again [2], [14], [4]), others hold opposite views (for instance, [22]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems? An empirical study

Kleinschmager

Robbes

Stefik

et al. 2012

2012 20th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC)

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“…The whole study is undertaken by choosing 18 most often used and studied Python dynamic features [5], [6], [7] and 7 famous open-source Python systems from Github and SourceForge online repositories. We find that files with dynamic features are significantly more likely to be the subject of changes, than other files.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there are multiple kinds of dynamic features in Python language, we choose the 18 famous and most often used and investigated [5], [6], [7] features, as shown in TABLE I, which are thought to be representative and are classified as Introspection, Object Changes, Code Generation and Library Loading. For brevity, we refer to the Python Reference Manual [8] and present the definition of each classification stated as follows, instead of a description of the individual constructs.…”

Section: A Dynamic Features Selection and Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An empirical study on the impact of Python dynamic features on change-proneness

Wang¹,

Lin

et al. 2015

International Conferences on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering

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Abstract-The dynamic features of programming languages are useful constructs that bring developers convenience and flexibility, but they are also perceived to lead to difficulties in software maintenance. Figuring out whether the use of dynamic features affects maintenance is significant for both researchers and practitioners, yet little work has been done to investigate it. In this paper, we conduct an empirical study to explore whether program source code files using dynamic features are more change-prone and whether particular categories of dynamic features are more correlated to change-proneness than others. To this end, we statically analyze historical data from 4 to 7 years of the development of seven open-source systems. We employ Fisher and Mann-Whitney hypothetical test methods, along with logistic regression model to solve three research questions. The results show that: (1) files with dynamic features are more change-prone, (2) files with a higher number of dynamic features are more change-prone, and (3) Introspection is shown to be more correlated to change-proneness than the other three categories in most systems. This innovative work can give some inspirations and references to researchers who are always focusing their eyes on how and why the dynamic features are used. For practitioners, we suggest them to be wary of files with dynamic features because they are more likely to be the subject of their maintenance effort.

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“…Because statically typed languages are relatively complex to compile and link, this is often a lengthy process-even on modern machines, large applications can take several hours to compile and link from scratch. This is often a limiting factor in rapid application development [TW07].…”

Section: Compile-link-run Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is potentially a real problem, hence why it is included in the 'disadvantages' section. However in practice, run-time type errors in deployed programs are exceedingly rare [TW07].…”

Section: Debuggingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamically Typed Languages

2008

IEEE Softw.

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Dynamically typed languages such as Python and Ruby have experienced a rapid grown in popularity in recent times. However, there is much confusion as to what makes these languages interesting relative to statically typed languages, and little knowledge of their rich history. In this chapter I explore the general topic of dynamically typed languages, how they differ from statically typed languages, their history, and their defining features.

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Chapter 5 Dynamically Typed Languages

Cited by 48 publications

References 23 publications

Do static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems? An empirical study

Do static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems? An empirical study

An empirical study on the impact of Python dynamic features on change-proneness

Dynamically Typed Languages

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