Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code

Chapter 13. Refactoring, Reuse, and Reality

by William Opdyke

Martin Fowler and I first met in Vancouver during OOPSLA 92. A few months earlier, I had completed my doctoral dissertation on refactoring object-oriented frameworks¹ at the University of Illinois. While I was considering continuing my research into refactoring, I was also exploring other options, such as medical informatics. Martin was working on a medical informatics application at the time, which is what brought us together to chat over breakfast in Vancouver. As Martin relates earlier in this book, we spent a few minutes discussing my refactoring research. He had limited interest in the topic at the time, but as you are now aware, his interest in the topic has grown.

At first glance, ...