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"Refactoring came to us from Java" Maybe the word came from the Java community but people have been carefully restructuring code since code was invented.

by sambeau 15y ago

mullr 15y ago
It didn't. The wiki tells us that it was first used in 1990, somewhat before Java was on the scene. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_refactoring#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_refactoring#History
- sigzero 15y ago
  Smalltalk was famous for it.
  - sambeau 15y ago
    Makes sense, I guess: Java was based on Objective C which was based on Smalltalk (and C).
- bromagosa 15y ago
  Right, http://books.google.com/books?id=1MsETFPD3I0C&lpg=PP1&hl=ca&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=1MsETFPD3I0C&lpg=PP1&#3... It actually came from Smalltalk, just for a change.
  - DanielRibeiro 15y ago
    Well, Unit Tests also came from it (SUnit was the first Unit Test framework). Which is unsurprising, as refactoring without unit tests is quite daunting. But JUnit did make them mainstream, and so did Eclipse' refactorings.
    - eru 15y ago
      Interestingly, refactoring usually works quite well for functional Haskell code without tests just relying on the types. (Of course the types won't help you in more imperative sections of your code, i.e. it's hard to guarantee a specific order of actions in the IO Monad with types only.)
      - brazzy 15y ago
        You mean just like in Java?
        eru 15y ago
        Yes. But the pure part of your program tends to be bigger in Haskell than in Java.
        masklinn 15y ago
        And the type system (and compiler) help you know what's pure and what's not.
  - silentbicycle 15y ago
    Actually, the Smalltalk community got it from Forth, where it was called "factoring" (no "re-"). See e.g. Leo Brodie's _Thinking Forth_ (http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/ http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/).
masklinn 15y ago
> Maybe the word came from the Java community Nothing of refactoring came from Java or its community. The formalization of its concepts largely came from the Smalltalk community (Opdyke, Johnson '90; Opdyke '92; Johnson, Opdyke '93; Opdyke, Johnson '93), using unit tests to ensure refactorings don't change behavior came from the Smalltalk community and automated refactoring tools came from the Smalltalk community (Roberts, Brant, Johnson '97; Refactoring Browser http://st-www.cs.illinois.edu/users/brant/Refactory/ http://st-www.cs.illinois.edu/users/brant/Refactory/) In fact, as you may note both the concept and the name are older than Java itself. The only claim to fame Java has in relation to refactoring is Smalltalk refugees reimplementing IDEs and refactoring browsers for it.

"Refactoring came to us from Java" Maybe the word came from the Java community but people have been carefully restructuring code since code was invented.

by sambeau 15y ago

"Refactoring came to us from Java" Maybe the word came from the Java community but people have been carefully restructuring code since code was invented.

mullr 15y ago

It didn't. The wiki tells us that it was first used in 1990, somewhat before Java was on the scene. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_refactoring#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_refactoring#History

sigzero 15y ago
Smalltalk was famous for it.
- sambeau 15y ago
  Makes sense, I guess: Java was based on Objective C which was based on Smalltalk (and C).
bromagosa 15y ago
Right, http://books.google.com/books?id=1MsETFPD3I0C&lpg=PP1&hl=ca&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=1MsETFPD3I0C&lpg=PP1&#3... It actually came from Smalltalk, just for a change.
- DanielRibeiro 15y ago
  Well, Unit Tests also came from it (SUnit was the first Unit Test framework). Which is unsurprising, as refactoring without unit tests is quite daunting. But JUnit did make them mainstream, and so did Eclipse' refactorings.
  - eru 15y ago
    Interestingly, refactoring usually works quite well for functional Haskell code without tests just relying on the types. (Of course the types won't help you in more imperative sections of your code, i.e. it's hard to guarantee a specific order of actions in the IO Monad with types only.)
    - brazzy 15y ago
      You mean just like in Java?
      - eru 15y ago
        Yes. But the pure part of your program tends to be bigger in Haskell than in Java.
        masklinn 15y ago
        And the type system (and compiler) help you know what's pure and what's not.
- silentbicycle 15y ago
  Actually, the Smalltalk community got it from Forth, where it was called "factoring" (no "re-"). See e.g. Leo Brodie's _Thinking Forth_ (http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/ http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/).

masklinn 15y ago

> Maybe the word came from the Java community Nothing of refactoring came from Java or its community. The formalization of its concepts largely came from the Smalltalk community (Opdyke, Johnson '90; Opdyke '92; Johnson, Opdyke '93; Opdyke, Johnson '93), using unit tests to ensure refactorings don't change behavior came from the Smalltalk community and automated refactoring tools came from the Smalltalk community (Roberts, Brant, Johnson '97; Refactoring Browser http://st-www.cs.illinois.edu/users/brant/Refactory/ http://st-www.cs.illinois.edu/users/brant/Refactory/) In fact, as you may note both the concept and the name are older than Java itself. The only claim to fame Java has in relation to refactoring is Smalltalk refugees reimplementing IDEs and refactoring browsers for it.