Kevin Southworth

Reasons to Refactor

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 @ 2:05 AM :: 335 Views :: 1 Comments ::
Categories: Software Development

Checklist of reasons to refactor:

• Code is duplicated
• A routine is too long
• A loop is too long or too deeply nested
• A class has poor cohesion
• A class interface does not provide a consistent level of abstraction
• A parameter list has too many parameters
• Changes within a class tend to be compartmentalized
• Changes require parallel modifications to multiple classes
• Inheritance hierarchies have to be modified in parallel
• Related data items that are used together are not organized into classes
• A routine uses more features of another class than of its own class
• A primitive data type is overloaded
• A class doesn''t do very much
• A chain of routines passes tramp data
• A middle man object isn''t doing anything
• One class is overly intimate with another
• A routine has a poor name
• Data members are public
• A subclass uses only a small percentage of its parents'' routines
• Comments are used to explain difficult code
• Global variables are used
• A routine uses setup code before a routine call or takedown code after a routine call
• A program contains code that seems like it might be needed someday