Refactoring of Programs and Specifications

Refactoring is a new name for a transformational approach to iterative software development. Originally focused on class diagrams, it is now commonly associated with object-oriented programming languages like Java. In this article, we trace some of the conceptual roots and the ideas behind refactoring, and sketch its relation to other techniques, such as behavioral and structural refinement or compiler optimization. Based on these observations, we argue that improved and adapted refactoring techniques will belong to the methodical tool set of tomorrow’s software engineers.

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