February 1, 2001

Refactoring

Authors: Chris Simpkins, Andrew Fuqua

A few months into development our director paid us a visit. Being a wise veteran of the software industry, she was concerned how well our system tolerated changes in requirements and scope. Many projects handle such changes poorly. Without hesitation, we confidently explained that our system could not only tolerate a significant amount of change, but that we could keep the system working continuously while making the changes. How could we be so bold? Are we hypercompetent überprogrammers? Or foolhardy script-kiddies who don't fully understand the question we were answering? The key to our confidence lies in our consistent application of refactoring. If you'd like to learn more about refactoring, and perhaps become half as good a programmer as us in the process, read this brief overview, then visit the resources listed at the end of this paper. 

What Is It?

Refactoring is changing code you've already written without breaking anything. More formally, it is changing existing code to improve its internal structure while preserving its external behavior. You are already refactoring, though you may not know it: You find a method that needs another parameter to do its job. You find a class which should be split in two. Making these kinds of changes is what refactoring is all about.

Often we make such changes haphazardly, perhaps even ripping up the entire system with the intention of putting it back together in an improved form. Often we break something along the way. But we don't have to. We can introduce discipline into this process. Like with design patterns, we can use a set of common "refactorings" – commonly needed changes to code. Each "refactoring pattern" describes the applicability of the refactoring and a proven step-by-step process for it. We don't have to re-invent the process of changing code every time we do it; we can follow a recipe developed and refined by masters of the art.

What's So Special About It?

"You said we're already doing it – why formalize?" The "father" of refactoring once wondered the same thing. Martin Fowler developed the idea of formalized refactoring after watching Kent Beck make large changes in a system by applying a series of very small changes.

Beck would break a large change into smaller steps and follow a painstaking process of making one change, running his tests to make sure everything still worked, and then repeating this "change, test" process until all the steps were done.

At that time Fowler's own method of refactoring was the slash-and-burn method described earlier – tossing up the code and putting it back together again – with all the debugging headaches that entails.

Fowler noticed that Beck was much faster and more successful at making changes using his incremental approach. The key to understanding why Beck's approach is better is realizing that smaller changes are much easier to understand and control. If you make large changes and the system breaks, you have to do a lot of sleuthing to find exactly what broke the system. But if you make very small changes, testing your system after each one, you know exactly what caused the problem and it's easy to undo the change.

A major tenet of software engineering is breaking large problems into chunks manageable by the human brain. Refactoring applies this principle to the process of changing existing code.

Can I Use It on my Project?

Yes, if you've satisfied a couple of prerequisites. The biggest prerequisite is that you have automated unit tests in place for the code you're changing. This is vital. You must be able to assert that your changes didn't break anything.

Another prerequisite is having some sort of source code control in place. A major benefit of refactoring in small steps is that it allows you to abort the process if you find it's not working. Source control allows you to do this by returning your code to its pre-change state.

How Will It Help me on my Project?

How many software projects have you worked on where the finished product was exactly as envisioned in the initial requirements? All software systems change during the course of development, and a large part of a team's success lies in its ability to deal with change. Refactoring will make your code better, allow you to spend less time on up front design, and give you confidence to make changes. To be successful, we must embrace change – not fear it. It's a fact of life. You have two choices: adapt, or die. Refactoring helps you adapt.

I'm Convinced! (or Just Curious) Where Can I Learn More?

Fowler, Martin. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code. Reading , Mass. : Addison-Wesley, 1999. This is the book on refactoring.

Martin Fowler's Refactoring web site contains a wealth of information, including the PhD thesis that started the formal Refactoring movement, a constantly expanding catalog of refactorings, and links to several Refactoring resources.

A refactoring plug-in for (X)Emacs. Yet another reason we should all be using the One True Editor (tm) :-)

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