Ordered sequencing of Refactorings based on Preconditions and Postconditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61467/2007.1558.2026.v17i1.1025Keywords:
Software refactoring, Refactoring sequences, Sequencing code transformations, Quality assessment in refactoringAbstract
Refactoring is an essential practice in software development, aimed at improving the internal quality of code without modifying its external behaviour. This work introduces a modification to the Greedy algorithm through the integration of preconditions and postconditions to seek to optimise the ordering of refactoring operations. Unlike the traditional approach, which selects transformations without considering their cumulative impact, the proposed algorithm evaluates each step to help ensure progressive improvement in key metrics such as abstraction, modular protection, and implementation inheritance. To validate the effectiveness of the algorithm, it was applied to 30 applications selected from the GitHub repository, with the condition that each project remained executable both before and after refactoring. Metrics were evaluated at each stage of the process to assess the actual impact of the generated sequences.
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