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mathPowToExponentiation rewrites computed Math[pow] callees and drops parentheses

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
88/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
javascript
Domain
tooling

Research direction

Read AGENTS.md and the mathPowToExponentiation transformer, especially its .find() pattern and argument-count filter. Add the computed Math[pow] rejection and tests covering both Math[pow](a, b) rejection and plain Math.pow acceptance; done means the computed call remains unchanged without parentheses issues.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Summary

mathPowToExponentiation matches calls by structural shape only, so a computed callee counts as Math.pow:

Math.pow(Math[pow](a, b), 2);

The .find() pattern (object: { name: "Math" }, property: { name: "pow" }) matches the computed member, and the filter only checks the argument count. The transformer rewrites the call even though Math[pow] is a dynamic property lookup, not Math.pow — which breaks the package's own rule that transformers only apply to statically verifiable types (AGENTS.md).

Actual

a ** b ** 2; // a ** (b ** 2), not (a ** b) ** 2

The parens came from isMathPow(base), which used to accept computed members too. After the guard dedupe on this branch it delegates to NodeTest#isMethodCall, which correctly rejects computed — so the base is no longer parenthesized while the inner call is still rewritten in the same pass. The narrowing is right; the find pattern is the bug.

Expected

The call is left alone, or at minimum Math[pow](a, b) is not treated as Math.pow:

Math.pow(Math[pow](a, b), 2);

Suggested fix

Reject computed callees in the filter, next to the argument-count check:

.filter((path) => !path.node.callee.computed && path.node.arguments.length === 2)

Add a test for Math[pow](a, b) (and a // @ts-expect-error-free plain Math.pow case) so the accept/reject set is pinned.

Context

Found while mapping the bloat-audit cut on this branch with inspectorJoe: real: bug … bet: 9/10 cooked: 2/10. Pre-existing on main — the old inline guard had no !computed check either — and the cut only makes one shape (base is a computed Math[pow] call) lose its parentheses.

Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
15
Forks
2
Avg merge
2h 53m
Merged PRs (30d)
27

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