Refactoring

Improving the Code for Smooth Development

Overview

Refactoring is the process of changing or improving code that already exists, while keeping the application's functionalities intact. To give more specific examples of what refactoring is, changes that can happen are the reorganization of redundant code, renaming variables or functions for improved readability, and generally reducing code complexity into a cleaner, simpler code.

It's important to be very careful not to break existing functionalities of an application when refactoring. A nice rule of thumb to follow is refactoring in small parts. Run automatic tests and every time that they're run, widen the scope of the test.

The timing in which to perform refactoring varies from conducting it within the normal development schedule to setting up a designed time specifically geared towards refactoring. Either way, refactoring needs an established goal for what it intends to accomplish and this can be done by gaining knowledge of the current state of the application with survey and analysis.

It's most effective to communicate within the team to decide the goals, methods, and scope of refactoring to maintain the cleanest, easiest to understand code in a project.

Refactoring

Learning Objectives

The ability to write clean, concise code is an essential skill in team-based development.

It's common in the beginning of product development or projects where specifications and functionality change a lot to just focus on getting the product to work. Code readability often gets left off of the list of development priorities. Doing this and not cleaning up the code along way will make the quality of the code get progressively worse, making it harder to add any new functionalities or build on the original code.

If developers refactor regularly throughout development, the process is streamlined: code is easier to read, bugs are easier to find, cost of production keeps from rising, and the overall speed of development can improve over a long term development period.

There are also times where even if developers want to make improvements to the code, they can't refactor because of a fear of touching working code. Take the time to thoroughly learn about refactoring techniques. Don't be afraid of the code or of improving it, and gain an important skill.

Learn from Here

Just by changing the name of variables to be easier to recognize or changing the code structure, code readability can be considerably improved. First, learn some basics of refactoring to visualize the overall process.

  • Trying Out Some Easy Refactoring Techniques

    Write Easy to Understand Variable Names

    Restructure Code

    Write Comments on the Code

    Simplify Loops and Logic

    Convert Multipurpose Code into a Function

    Refactor a FizzBuzz Program

Recommended Materials

  1. The Art of Readable Code

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