Summary

The [pysal/base.py] and [pysal/lib/common.py] modules use outdated Python patterns that should be modernized for better security, maintainability, and to follow current best practices.

Problems Identified

1. Custom cached_property implementation (pysal/base.py, lines 23-39)

PySAL defines its own cached_property class, but since PySAL requires Python >= 3.10 (per pyproject.toml), the standard library's functools.cached_property (available since Python 3.8) should be used instead.

2. Unsafe use of exec() and eval() (pysal/base.py, pysal/lib/common.py)

The codebase uses exec() and eval() for dynamic module imports:

# In base.py
def _installed_version(package):
    try:
        exec(f'import {package}')
    except ModuleNotFoundError:
        v = 'NA'
    try:
        v = eval(f'{package}.__version__')
    except AttributeError:
        v = 'NA'
    return v