Refactoring (Book Review)
Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:35:20 pm by DustinFiled under Book Review, General, Software
*This is a technical post. Ye be warned.*
Full Title: Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler
ISBN: 978-0-201-48567-7
Get it cheap.
Summary:
As people change code – changes to realize short-term goals or changes made without a full comprehension of the design of the code – the code loses its structure… Refactoring is rather like tidying up the code.
As this quote explains, refactoring code is necessary. A single feature may disregard high level architecture. The sales department may set a deadline rushing implementation while ignoring long-term development issues. For these reasons, we occasionally (or continuously) clean our code.
This book was kind enough to outline a couple dozen quick refactoring types (name this, move that, etc). When these tips are combined, they create a more solid code base.
What I thought: My career has put me in a position where I have seen many types of projects. Good architecture, bad architecture, good architecture with bad code, etc. In all cases, an occasional clean-up is helpful. I enjoyed this book because it put the examples out there for ‘Spring Clean’ partaking. There were a couple of ‘well duh’ instances, but a nice reference indeed.
Good enough to make the migration to my desk at work.