On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 08:04:20AM -0400, John Gilmore wrote: > David Stokes wrote: > > <begin extract> > Refactoring is a standard part of programming which every decent > programmer uses, even if they don't call it that. It's refactoring > when you replace several instances of some piece of code with a macro, > to use an Assembler example. > </end extract> > > and in this sense it is innocuous, even platitudinous, and certainly harmless. > > Refactoring as its two principal advocates have presented it is, > however, something different. It emphasizes 'patterns' and the active > recasting of code into them and, implicitly at least, only them. It > is often presented as a panacea, the latest in a long sequence of > them, each of which, in its turn, was to solve all of our problems. > > There is an aperçu embedded in the notion of refactoring, as there > was, for example, in structured programming; but their reification > into 'systems' complete with their own gurus, buzzwords, and > bureaucracies, while perhaps inevitable, is at best deleterious. > Several consulting firms, the usual suspects, are now offering > 'webinars' in refactoring. > > So yes, cargo cults. > > John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
I think I couldn't express it in a better way :-) For me, the key is keeping proportions. Refactoring as rewriting code into macros or organising it into (hopefully [1]) better laid program structure is ok (and desirable) to me. However, I prefer more detailed description of what actually had been done, so the "r* word" would have to be followed by some explanation. IMHO refactoring used as marketing keyword smells to the very sky. Even thou it is not part of Java lang, I observe strong connection is being made between the two (but I can't prove it in analytical way). This makes me willing to not expose my Java knowledge too much :-) - granted, it is very rusty (gone are the days when JVM, classlib and small program could fit on 1.44mb floppy - I think I once performed such trick - and somehow I see no reason to undust it). -- [1] - so it involves some experimenting, too -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home ** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:[email protected] ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
