Timeline for Refactoring - is it appropriate to simply rewrite code, as long as all tests pass?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 24, 2018 at 16:04 | answer | added | gnasher729 | timeline score: 2 | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 15:46 | comment | added | John Wu | @User200783 Well that is a bigger question, isn't it (how do I ensure my tests are comprehensive?) Pragmatically, I would probably run a code coverage report before making any changes, and carefully examine any areas of code that don't get exercised, ensuring the development team is mindful of them as they rewrite the logic. | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 13:19 | answer | added | VoiceOfUnreason | timeline score: 2 | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 12:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackSoftEng/status/1055066502410522624 | ||
| Oct 24, 2018 at 10:32 | answer | added | Caleth | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 9:07 | comment | added | user200783 | @JohnWu - Is rewriting from scratch an acceptable refactoring technique? If not, it's disappointing to see such a well-regarded presentation on refactoring take that approach. OTOH if it is acceptable, then unintended changes in behaviour can be blamed on missing tests - but is there any way to be confident that tests cover all possible edge cases? | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 9:01 | comment | added | user200783 | @JohnWu - I was under the impression that refactoring was generally done as a series of small transformations to the source code ("extract-method" etc.) rather than by simply rewriting code (by which I mean writing it again from scratch without even looking at the existing code, as done in the linked presentation). | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 6:38 | comment | added | Laiv | This happens often due to test plans mainly focused on testing use cases of success and very little (or not at all) on covering error use cases or sub-use cases. So it's mainly a leak of coverage. A leak of testing. | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 5:56 | answer | added | Doc Brown | timeline score: 11 | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 4:55 | comment | added | John Wu | I'm not sure I get the question. Of course it is OK to rewrite code. I am not sure what you mean specifically by "is it okay to simply rewrite code." If you're asking "Is it okay to rewrite code without putting a lot of thought into it," the answer is no, just as it is not OK to write code in that manner. | |
| Oct 24, 2018 at 1:57 | history | asked | user200783 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |