What is code refactoring?
Code refactoring reconstructs existing server-side code, making its structure cleaner, more reliable, and more flexible, while users should not notice any changes to the application’s external functionality. However, end users should not notice any changes when using the software.
Code refactoring can be a complex process that modernizes code so it is easier to scale and maintain over time. In addition, code refactoring also aims to strengthen security and improve performance. During this process, developers can find and fix vulnerabilities and pesky bugs, as well as create more flexible code that remains relevant for a longer service life.
Why choose refactoring?
Refactoring your code keeps it relevant for longer. As organizations seek to modernize their software systems, they have several different reasons to refactor.
First, cleaner, fresher code can reduce operating and maintenance costs. This is especially important given the ongoing shortage of mainframe workers with the skills to manage interactions between both old and new systems. Refactoring also promotes better interaction and integration between applications and the latest technologies.
To get into a little more detail:
Refactoring
- A cost-effective solution. Many organizations choose code refactoring because it can optimize return on investment. While it is not the cheapest approach, it is an excellent compromise between two extremes: a complete code rewrite or a “lift and shift” strategy. On the one hand, a complete rewrite is so risky that even some well-known IT specialists have struggled with this method—and with disastrous results. On the other hand, the “lift and shift” method takes the same code from the mainframe environment and moves it to the cloud. Unfortunately, this still does not eliminate existing problems and may expose weaknesses in the current code. Refactoring updates the code and removes redundancy and potential vulnerabilities, making it easier to integrate the code into the cloud. It is a sensible middle ground, with more manageable risks and costs than either extreme. At the same time, this method can help your organization move more smoothly toward full digital transformation.
- A generational shift in technology. There is currently a shortage of programmers who know how to work with mainframe technologies, but the next generation of programmers probably won’t see a need to develop those skills either. The next generation wants to innovate, transform, and modernize, rather than look back at outdated code structures. So it makes sense to refactor current code, gradually and in a controlled way updating its structure using languages that will be familiar to the next generation of programmers. Cleaner, revamped code will make it easier to attract new talent, as well as eliminate security threats that typically find holes in old code structures.
- Code refactoring supports your digital transformation efforts. The software structures of the past are now becoming obsolete. It was once normal to isolate mission-critical software applications in silos with limited interaction between them, but digital transformation calls for greater openness and integration through the cloud.
Modern software architectures require a complex mix of scalability, connectivity, and security, which usually calls for significant restructuring. Again, a complete code rewrite often leads to losses and disasters (not for lack of trying). At the same time, the “lift and shift” option does not make full use of cloud architecture and also brings security vulnerabilities along with it. Refactoring clears out the deadwood, tightens the screws, and takes you further along the path to digital transformation than either extreme.
Refactoring is essential to creating great products
Refactoring lets the development team change and clean up code without changing the system’s behavior. This makes the code easier to maintain and understand. It allows developers to keep complexity under control, while you can embrace change and build an evolving architecture that you can continuously improve.
An analogy we like to use for this: “If you don’t tend your garden, it will decay over time until every feature takes forever to build. Then all you can do is wonder how it ended up this way.”
When to choose refactoring
Timing matters when it comes to changing direction in software. But generally speaking, one of the best times to refactor is before updating or adding new features to your current code. Whenever you clean up and update code, it provides a more stable foundation for building new features. In addition, it improves product quality, security, and user experience.
Also, paradoxically, refactoring can be a good option right after launching your product on the market. Why? The schedule, for one thing. The pre-launch frenzy can consume your developers’ time and energy. Once things settle down and user reports start coming in, your developers can spend some extra time carefully examining the code, then get to work refactoring and cleaning it up for future releases before the next big push. And because the code is cleaner and more stable, future features and adjustments will be easier to implement and maintain.
In addition to these two points in an application’s life, refactoring can be an important option in the following situations:
- When support for old technologies ends Market forces are constantly pushing and pulling technology, and a company that wants to stay relevant and remain in the game has to keep innovating. Software is more sensitive to these changes and demands than anything else. This makes regular code refactoring absolutely essential for staying on top of technology as it evolves and fades into history.
- When there is a huge leap in technology Continuing the previous point, when there is a major leap in how technology works (and these days, that happens all the time), refactoring is necessary to keep up with what’s new. As the new arrives, the old disappears, and you don’t want to disappear with it. Refactoring makes it easier to prepare for these sudden leaps forward.
- When software is broken Dirty, messy code is buggy, nonfunctional code. Cleaning it up is sure to help you remove and fix those problems with cleaner, bug-free code that works reliably and saves everyone all kinds of headaches and resources. Clean, optimized code benefits the whole organization, helping yours gain real competitive advantages.
Thoughts on code refactoring
Refactoring is great for improving your architecture and the overall structure of your system. Refactoring can take a lot of time and resources, especially if you have unstructured blocks where new parts are tied together with old parts of the architecture. One way to stay up to date is to refactor regularly, updating the entire system step by step.
This allows you to continually update outdated parts of the system, strengthening security along the way—provided, of course, that everything is done correctly. You want to make this part of a regularly scheduled routine.
Why refactor
Refactoring gives you a higher-quality, more reliable, secure, and stable software product. That’s the “why” behind it. We also have recommendations for refactoring. Instead of doing big chunks of refactoring all at once, we recommend “incremental refactoring.”
What the process looks like
When refactoring, you should have a clear goal, usually focused on fixing a code smell. It’s best to carry out the process through a list of small steps completed in order, resulting in improved code.
Examples of other goals teams have pursued include organizing data, handling generalizations, or simplifying method calls. “After refactoring sessions, our clients realized that code refactoring helped them improve the scalability of their products or move from MVP to adding new features more quickly and efficiently.”
A warning before refactoring
As with almost everything in programming, refactoring has its risks. Even doing nothing carries risk. People are involved in the process of writing code, and they are prone to errors even on their best days. Unintentional bugs can be introduced into the code, causing significant performance problems. For this reason, it is important that refactoring be done by someone who understands the code they are working with well.
