Are you seeking around for different ways to enhance your code? Well, the following post is definitely worth your time. Now have you ever come across the term code refactoring? If not, then the following post is just for you, here you will find what exactly code refactoring is and how it can turn out to be beneficial.

Now first of all tell me something: how do you get started with a development project? First, you gather all the basic requirements and then decide upon what features and functionalities are supposed to be implemented, etc, right? And with time passing, you keep experimenting by adding new codes and modifying them just to come up with a better solution. In fact, in case of any bugs or issues found, you also travel back and forth to tweak the codes a bit. Yeah, so this is the basic drill you keep doing as a software developer right?

Wrong! Don’t you find something fishy? Have you wondered what the code looks like? Here you haven’t thought about improving the code or restructuring it? I mean there are chances of duplication in terms of coding or when you try to incorporate too many parameters, some longer methods/functions, large classes or non-intuitive variable names, and the worst of all is when you place the code in the wrong manner, etc. Unfortunately, these small issues lead to larger goof-ups or losses. This is popularly known as a code smell which is very bad. Code smell can result in poor readability, longer debugging time and worst of all, it might take a hell lot of time in maintaining the project, especially in the long run. Unfortunately, developers irrespective of their experience tend to follow these practices so that they can accomplish the project in the given deadline. They might add or change the existing code but never try to improve it and this definitely leads to software decays. So what to do? How to not let this decay happen? Simple, try opting for code refactoring.

Introducing Code Refactoring

So what exactly is code refactoring? Well, in simple words code refactoring is all about enhancing the software code in such a way that it surely enhances the applications' overall performance, scalability and security. And you know what, a refactored code can be easily debugged, and maintained and saves from immense technical losses in future. So basically, the entire code is restructured internally in such a way that it doesn’t bother the external behavior or functionality of the application. The code becomes more clean, neat, efficient and of course, easy to maintain.

Are you among those who believe that code refactoring is pretty similar to code rewriting. Nope, one should know that when the code is rewritten the code’s behavior changes internally as well as externally however this is not the case when it comes to code refactoring. If you ask from the end user’s point of view, code refactoring is not all needed since it’s not going to benefit them directly. You see they are unlikely to find any changes in the developed application. In fact, when asked they won’t even bother to pay money for such purposes. However, it’s not the same case for a software developer. For them, code refactoring makes the code more simple, better, efficient, and easy to understand.

The ultimate purpose of Code Refactoring are:

Enhanced efficiency and readability by taking care of all dependencies and complexities
Easy to maintain and reusable code
Cleaner code
Finding bugs and vulnerabilities in no time

Importance of Code Refactoring

When should one consider code refactoring? Well first and foremost, if you don’t want to face situations such as duplicate code, bad classifications, or any kind of programming discrepancies such as myriad patches, you need to consider code refactoring. Apart from this further we would like to shed some light on certain situations when code refactoring must be taken into account.

#1 Get rid of the Code Smell

The first and foremost reason to consider code refactoring is to get rid of the code smell or code rot. When you are working with different-level experienced or skilled programmers, you will find that each one has a different coding style. Sometimes they end up introducing some ugly coding hacks in order to accomplish the project in the given time. As a result, the chances of code rot increases. Code rot is basically said when the code seems to be clumsy, chaotic and loses integrity. Several parameters or factors such as duplicated code, unnecessary dependencies, and unused variables result in such a situation. Therefore, code refactoring must be considered in the very first place. This results in getting rid of unnecessary bugs and errors.

#2 Cost-effective approach

Well, you may not agree with me in the first place but when you tend to see the big picture you will find that code refactoring definitely saves ample of time and money. When you end up developing an enhanced code which is pretty clear and can be easily understood by other software developers. This means, you no longer have to waste time in explaining the code to your software development teams or colleagues which eventually saves a lot of development time. And an easily readable code doesn’t require much rectification so yes, quite an amount of time and money can be saved here.

#3 Enhance the Performance of the Application

The next reason to opt for code refactoring practice is to enhance the overall performance of the application. Now can you tell me what kind of applications tend to run at a faster rate? The ones which do not comprise unnecessary classes, functions, variables, methods or any such mess. This surely makes an application run at a faster pace and increases the overall performance of the code. In the end, this surely leads to a better customer experience.

In addition to this, finding bugs, errors and issues becomes pretty easy. All you need to do is simply test the application and you are done.

Above all these aspects, code refactoring results in reduced technical debt. You see when you launch an application, after a while you may find the software not responding properly due to not being updated on a regular basis. This definitely increases your technical debt and you soon get thrown out of the league. As a result, code refactoring is the only solution or approach that can save you from such bottlenecks. Moreover, code refactoring definitely keeps the code updated and saves from huge losses.

Best Code Refactoring Techniques

Now I suppose you have understood the significance of incorporating code refactoring in your day-to-day programming schedule. Time to consider some of the best techniques and approaches to do so.

#1 Red-Green-Refactor

Most of the custom software development teams tend to choose this code refactoring technique in particular. Here the software developer tends to break refactoring down into three categories:

Red - Wait! Think about what exactly needs to be developed. This is the very first phase to take into account. When you are writing a corresponding code in case, if the tested functionality is not in existence then the test is destined to fail. Therefore, it’s Red! You should stop right there.
Green - Can the development approach pass the basic testing? This is the second phase where the intended functionality corresponds to the test seamlessly. Basically, here it’s all about passing the test, turning it into green.
Refactor - Implementing improvements or new functionalities. Last but certainly not least is to refactor both codes as well as the test. Make sure to pay attention to the tests and make necessary enhancements.

This is one of the most popular Test Driven Development (TDD) cycles which is all about improving the quality of the code.

#2 Preparatory refactoring

The next code refactoring technique to consider is preparatory refactoring. Now this method is all about paying down the technical debts which have accumulated over time. For example, let’s say you begin developing a new feature and suddenly you realize that the code you are working on is not structured properly and this makes adding new features or improvising them pretty difficult. Here is the time when you have to restructure the code so that new features can be easily introduced. When the refactoring takes place before the actual development begins is known as preparatory refactoring. As the name implies, it’s preparing your existing code for better development.

One of the most interesting explanations given by Jessica Ker on preparatory refactoring says

“It’s like I want to go 100 miles east but instead of just traipsing through the woods, I’m going to drive 20 miles north to the highway and then I’m going to go 100 miles east at three times the speed I could have if I just went straight there. When people are pushing you to just go straight there, sometimes you need to say, ‘Wait, I need to check the map and find the quickest route.’ The preparatory refactoring does that for me.”

#3 Refactoring by Abstraction

Lastly comes refactoring by abstraction. This method is probably used when large portions of refactoring need to be conducted. Several aspects such as class inheritances, hierarchy, and extraction are included here. Basically, this method of code refactoring is performed when you want to reduce duplications in the software code.

Here the pull-up and push-down method is pretty much considered. The pull-up is about pulling or extracting common code parts of the classes to superclasses just to minimize the chances of code duplication and the push-down method is said when specific code parts are derived from superclasses into subclasses.

Final Words

Basically code refactoring is something that might not be able to provide you with immediate or obvious benefits but it definitely plays an important role in any successful development project. In the end, you will have an improved code leading to more productivity and efficiency. Lastly, some code refactoring checklists to consider include:

Keeping refactoring small
Taking one step at a time
Add relevant test cases
Using relevant tools for refactoring automation
No scope for duplication
Easy to maintain

So are you ready to take small steps for the big win? Time to change the approach for better programming and development.

What Is Code Refactoring, and Why Should You Consider It?