> This reads like nothing more than an advertisement of Clion’s refactoring features. Yes, I think that's the whole point. > Some of the tips are even quite d

> This reads like nothing more than an advertisement of Clion’s refactoring features. Yes, I think that's the whole point. > Some of the tips are even quite dangerous and highly context dependent, like creating a base class when two classes share common functionality. That sounds like a refactoring nightmare to happen. I don't see where that hypothetical danger lies. Deduplicating code is a basic refactorizarion step. > I’m currently working through a difficult refactor and the most important tips I can give are: I'm afraid you're going the wrong way about this. No wonder you associated "danger" with refactoring. The basic steps you take to refactor legacy code are: - identify code paths that are affected if you touch a specific component, - identify invariants and expected state changes through that code path. If there is none, add your own (see code seams) - add tests to verify those invariants (see software vise tests) - proceed with refactoring. If you want to learn more, I recommend you pick up the book "working effectively with legacy code" by Michael C Feathers.