code: def htmresearchCorePrereleaseInstalled():
    
    try:
      coreDistribution = pkg_resources.get_distribution("htmresearch-core")
      if pkg_resources.parse_version(coreDistribution.version).is_prerelease:
        # A pre-release dev version of htmresearch-core is installed.
        return True
    except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
      pass  # Silently ignore.  The absence of htmresearch-core will be handled by
            # setuptools by default
  
    return False
docs: Make an attempt to determine if a pre-release version of htmresearch-core is
    installed already.
  
    @return: boolean