On the Developers' Attitude Towards CRAN Checks

Pranjay Kumar, Davin Ie, Melina Vidoni

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    R is a package-based, multi-paradigm programming language for scientific software. It provides an easy way to install third-party code, datasets, tests, documentation and examples through CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network). Prior works indicated developers tend to code workarounds to bypass CRAN's automated checks (performed when submitting a package) instead of fixing the code-doing so reduces packages' quality. It may become a threat to those analyses written in R that rely on miss-checked code. This preliminary study card-sorted source code comments and analysed StackOverflow (SO) conversations discussing CRAN checks to understand developers' attitudes. We determined that about a quarter of SO posts aim to bypass a check with a workaround; the most affected are code-related problems, package dependencies, installation and feasibility. We analyse these checks and outline future steps to improve similar automated analyses.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings - 30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2022
    PublisherIEEE Computer Society
    Pages570-574
    Number of pages5
    ISBN (Electronic)9781450392983
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022
    Event30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2022 - Pittsburgh, United States
    Duration: 16 May 202217 May 2022

    Publication series

    NameIEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension
    Volume2022-March

    Conference

    Conference30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension, ICPC 2022
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityPittsburgh
    Period16/05/2217/05/22

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