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A Methodology for Impact Evaluation of Refactoring on External Quality Attributes of a Software Design

  • Raja Sehrab Bashir
  • , Sai Peck Lee
  • , Chong Chun Yung
  • , Khubaib Amjad Alam
  • , Raja Wasim Ahmad
  • University of Malaya

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Refactoring aims at improving software design quality without affecting external behavior. It is commonly believed that refactoring operations always enhance the software quality. However, some recent empirical studies have reported negative or negligible effects of refactoring on certain quality attributes. The actual impact of each refactroing on certain quality attributes may help developers in selecting the most suitable refactoring alternatives. Various work have been proposed in this regard at source code-level. However, fewer studies have assessed the refactoring impact at design-level. In this study, We propose a refactoring impact evaluation method enabling developers to select the suitable refactoring operations based on their impact. Nine small scale case studies have been used to validate the consistency of propose method. The results reveal that move method, extract method, extract class rafactoring operations have improved maintainability, understandability, modifiability, and analyzability in nine case studies. These obeservations are consistent accross multiple case studies, implying that the proposed approach is highly consistent.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, FIT 2017
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages183-188
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781538635674
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Jul 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event15th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, FIT 2017 - Islamabad, Pakistan
Duration: 18 Dec 201720 Dec 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, FIT 2017
Volume2017-January

Conference

Conference15th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, FIT 2017
Country/TerritoryPakistan
CityIslamabad
Period18/12/1720/12/17

Keywords

  • Code refactoring
  • Software Refactoring
  • design refactoring
  • refactoring impact
  • refactoring improve quality

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