You got to the finish line of your development process – the app is ready and running. You could think: no more looking at the code, but is it ever that way, really? The truth is, your code is never a closed chapter. In fact, it should always be an open book.
As your solution gains complexity, getting new features and extensions, it’s worth rethinking your code structure every once in a while. Also, we are currently witnessing the transition from web 2.0 to decentralized, transparent web 3.0, and your code should reflect these changes – not only at the functional, but also structural level.
What is code refactoring?
In a nutshell, code refactoring refers to the restructuring of the existing code without changing its external behaviour. What does it mean in practice? Speaking briefly, you find the so-called code smells (maintainability issues) that could make your code confusing or problematic and fix them. These changes do not affect your application, which continues to behave the same way.
Code refactoring is a common practice in projects across sectors, particularly in agile teams. Constant improvement is a fundamental principle of agile methodologies, and refactoring facilitates it. You can employ it throughout iterations to keep the code as clear as possible.
Refactoring allows you to keep the technical value of your project as high as the business one. Most companies focus on the latter (feature implementation, etc.), but the low technical value will eventually affect your product cycle sooner or later. At some point it may turn out that you need to rewrite the code because of its miserable state, and it’s obviously much more costly than refactoring. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start from the part that likely interests you the most – the benefits!
Why should a team do refactoring?
Code refactoring is a method you can implement for any project of any size. Main goal? Improving the readability of your code while reducing its complexity. Why would you want to do that?
Your development gains speed
To be capable of working efficiently, your developers need to be able to quickly read through the code and understand the logic behind it. Refactoring makes that possible, removing ambiguities. Whether you’re preparing to launch your product’s first version or introducing changes to the released app, you can expect a significant speed boost. That’s a crucial benefit for any team that often works under time pressure and struggles with tight deadlines.
Your team is on the same page
Throughout the development process, people come and go. Once new members join the team, they have to bite through the code layer before actually starting to work on it. Refactored code is clearer, so they will not have to treat it as a puzzle. If you have newbies on board, refactoring is an essential practice, as they may take more time than others to figure things out.
Refactoring is an easy fix
Refactoring does not affect the ongoing processes. Your app will work without any interruptions, so your clients will not even notice there is some work being done. You don’t need long-time preparations and a large budget to make it happen. It can become a standard element of your iterations – a preventive measure to avoid code smells that often indicate more serious problems with the code. You keep the same codebase, which means less money is spent. Plus, you can target a specific element of your code that causes issues instead of restructuring all your software.
Scaling is easy
As you improve the readability of your code, it becomes much easier to innovate, scale and advance with software development without wasting time on explanations and timely onboarding. That, of course, equals savings. Based on our observations, teams that work on refactored code take initiative more often and scale solutions faster.
Most common maintenance issues identified with software refactoring
Why should a team refactor code? That you should already know by now, so let’s move to the how’s. To refactor the code, you need to first identify specific code smells. They are often visible at first sight, but at times you need to put some effort to trace them. Most common maintenance issues include poor methods/functions, duplicate or dead code, and poor names.
Poor names
Wrong names can seriously affect the readability of your code. What do we mean by poor? It could be too vague, ambiguous, or noisy (containing unnecessary elements). A good name doesn’t leave room for different interpretations, it’s brief but descriptive enough for the developer to quickly get it.
Poor methods/functions
Methods or functions give instructions to perform a task. As a crucial element to comprehend, they should not be lengthy by default. There is no universal length you should aim at. However, it is generally accepted that you should not be forced to scroll to get familiar with it all. The signature of your method should not be filled with too many parameters or side effects. Refactoring can fix these issues.
Duplicate code
Duplicate code makes developers replicate the same logic, and at the same time, it increases your tech debt. Writing it is a waste of time and money, and it adds unnecessary complexity to your solution, affecting its performance. Plus, the presence of the same code increases the risk of bugs during updates.
Dead code
Contrary to duplicate code, dead code is executed, but its results are not being used. That issue often occurs when the requirements change during a rapidly progressing development process. The team jumps to another requirement, leaving old lines behind. It is worth removing it to reduce the complexity of your solution and prevent your app from executing unnecessary tasks that affect its overall performance.
Is rewriting a good alternative to software refactoring?
Both methods are used to deal with outdated legacy code, and both have their pros and cons. Refactoring is much quicker than rewriting. At the same time, it allows you to maintain one codebase, while rewriting requires you to keep two separate ones, creating additional costs. When you rewrite, you basically create a new solution from scratch, which obviously requires more time.
However, that could also be an opportunity. Paradoxically, your developers may struggle less, rewriting the app, even though it requires more effort because they have more flexibility, not being limited by the previous structure of the system. Also, you can use the experience gained working on a previous project and create software that excludes all its mistakes, instead of trying to fix them with refactoring (which is not always possible with issues other than structural).
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