Re-re-re-refactoring...

July 10, 2005 · 1 min read

The wikipedia defines refactoring as:

part of code maintenance which doesn't fix bugs or add new functionality. Rather it is designed to improve the understandability of the code or change its structure and design, and remove dead code, to make it easier for human maintenance in the future. In particular, adding new behavior to a program might be difficult with the program's given structure, so a developer might refactor it first to make it easy, and then add the new behavior.

Ok so... it turns out I've been doing this all along. I have a tendancy to self edit as I write. I do it in emails, blog posts and most certainly in my code. I don't think there's an untouched line of code left anywhere in HA! at this point. Thing is, I always just thought of it as "cleaning it up".

Also from the wikipedia: the term refactoring is often used to describe modifying source code without changing its external behavior, and is sometimes informally referred to as "cleaning it up".

Don't you love it when you find out you're following a good (best?) practice without even realizing it?

Oh and btw, this blog post was refactored at least 3 times before you ever saw it.

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Chris G. Williams

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