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Everything about Dead code
Computer code that is never executed
The term dead code has multiple definitions. Some use the term to refer to code which can never be executed at run-time. In some areas of computer programming, dead code is a section in the source code of a program which is executed but whose result is never used in any other computation. The execution of dead code wastes computation time and memory. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: Dead codeA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Incremental software product line verification - A performance analysis with dead variable codeInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Clean CodeThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Indoor Localization of Mobile Robots Through QR Code Detection and Dead Reckoning Data FusionCited 136 times
- Go sideways: Unreachable codeA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Dead-code eliminationA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun Instructions that, when executed, have no effect on the running of the program.
Noun A portion of source code that will never be executed as part of the running program.
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Indoor Localization of Mobile Robots Through QR Code Detection and Dead Reckoning Data Fusion
A C++ data model supporting reachability analysis and dead code detection
Partial dead code elimination
Dead letter or living document? Ten years of the Code of Conduct for disaster relief
A Multi-Study Investigation into Dead Code
JavaScript Dead Code Identification, Elimination, and Empirical Assessment
Eliminating dead code on recursive data
Eliminating partially dead code in explicitly parallel programs
🆕 Influential since 2022
Incremental software product line verification - A performance analysis with dead variable code
Dead or alive: Discovering server HTTP endpoints in both reachable and dead client-side code
Beyond Natural Language Perplexity: Detecting Dead Code Poisoning in Code Generation Datasets
Cracking Another Code of the Dead Sea Scrolls
OPTI-BLEND, AN AST DRIVEN CODE OPTIMIZATION TOOL FOCUSING ON DEAD CODE ELIMINATION, CODE CLONE DETECTION, AND LOOP OPTIMIZATION
📚 Books worth reading
Clean CodeRobert C. Martin · 2008
The Genome WarJames Shreeve · 2004
The Theory That Would Not DieSharon Bertsch McGrayne · 2011
Dead TimeAnne Cassidy · 2012
TorchwoodAnita Sullivan, Eve Myles · 2009
The cheat codeBrian Wong · 2016
EvidenceMiguel A. Mendez · 1999- 📕Dead CodeGlenda Carroll · 2021
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Unreachable code In computer programming, unreachable code is part of the source code of a program which can never be executed because there exists no control flow path…
- Dead-code elimination In compiler theory, dead-code elimination (DCE, dead-code removal, dead-code stripping, or dead-code strip) is a compiler optimization to remove dead code…
- Tracing just-in-time compilation Tracing just-in-time compilation is a technique used by virtual machines to optimize the execution of a program at runtime. This is done by recording a…
- Optimizing compiler An optimizing compiler is a compiler designed to generate code that is optimized in aspects such as minimizing program execution time, memory usage, storage…
- Inline expansion In computing, inline expansion, or inlining, is a manual or compiler optimization that replaces a function call site with the body of the called function…
- Redundant code In computer programming, redundant code is source code or compiled code that is unnecessary. Code that can be removed without affecting its desired behavior…
- Dead store In computer programming, a dead store is a local variable that is assigned a value but is read by no following instruction. Dead stores waste processor…
- Lazy evaluation In programming language theory, lazy evaluation, or call-by-need, is an evaluation strategy which delays the evaluation of an expression until its value…