Unused definitions are values assigned to variables but not used. Since unused definitions are usually considered redundant code causing no severe consequences except for wasting CPU cycles, system developers usually treat them as mild warnings and simply remove them. In this paper, we reevaluate the effect of unused definitions and discover that some unused definitions could indicate non-trivial bugs like security issues or data corruption, which calls for more attention from developers.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Zhong et al. (2024) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: