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The Impact of Refactoring on Maintability of Java Code: A Preliminary Review

The preservation of a proper level of software systems quality is one in the cornerstones of making software evolution easier and sustainable in the long run. A good design allows complex systems to evolve with little effort and in an economically efficient way. When design deviations are detected, refactoring techniques are applied to eliminate or at least reduce the identified flaws. A number of studies show that not all refactoring techniques contribute to improving the quality of different software systems equally. Therefore, effective approaches to measuring the impact of refactoring on software quality are required. In this study, we examine approaches to estimate the effect of applied refactoring techniques on the maintainability of Java based software systems. Since refactoring primarily affects the system’s internal structure, maintainability was put in the focus of the study. We conducted a brief literature review, limiting our study on quantitative metrics. The results show that researchers use different approaches for evaluating the impact of refactoring on the observed Java based software systems. In some studies, researchers measured the effect of refactoring on the internal structure attributes measured by software metrics, e.g. C&K metric suite but the scope of our research was limited to the effects of refactoring on maintainability. In other studies, the effects of refactoring are estimated through external quality attributes, e.g. maintainability, readability, and understandability. Additionally, some researchers observed the impact of refactoring indirectly, e.g. through the defect proneness of classes of observed systems.

maintainability ; refactoring ; software quality

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