A refactoring tool for smalltalk

Abstract

Refactoring is an important part of the evolution of reusable software and frameworks. Its uses range from the seemingly trivial, such as renaming program elements, to the profound, such as retrofitting design patterns into an existing system. Despite its importance, lack of tool support forces programmers to refactor programs by hand, which can be tedious and errorprone. The Smalltalk Refactoring Browser is a tool that carries out many refactorings automatically, and provides an environment for improving the structure of Smalltalk programs. It makes refactoring safe and simple, and so reduces the cost of making reusable software.

Refactoring Object-Z Specifications

“…The provision of tool support for automating the refactoring process has been achieved in the past [16,19] and is recognised as important. Tool support for the rules presented above is possible, and has been prototyped by formalising the rules in the Z specification language as operations upon a state containing the Object-Z specification (a meta-model).…”

Object-focused environments revisited

“…The basic tools included in a Smalltalk environment are: Inspectors for manipulating instances -objects-, Browsers to manipulate the classes, methods, and packages of the system, Workspaces for sending messages by evaluating expressions, and the Transcript as a global console for the system [35]. Modern Smalltalk systems evolved to include Test Runner tools for running tests and refactoring browsers [36]. Figure 2.1 depicts two Smalltalk systems, which resemble one another, despite having been implemented in different decades, including the basic tools of the environment: a browser selected on the True class displaying the method named and:, an inspector on the Array object, a workspace with valuable expressions, a transcript and a test runner.…”

Object-Oriented Reengineering Patterns

“…While writing this pattern, one of our team members applied it to reverse engineer the Refactoring Browser [RBJ97]. The person was not familiar with Smalltalk, yet was able to get a feel for the system structure by a mere inspection of class interfaces.…”

“…If you have a way to express tree matching, you can detect navigation code. For example, the Rewrite Rule Editor that comes with the Refactoring Browser [RBJ97] can detect navigation code using the pattern Figure 9.6: Chains of data containers can be converted into service providers, thereby eliminating navigation code and reducing coupling between classes.…”

“…Be sure to check that moving the code will not introduce any naming conflicts. Tools like the Refactoring Browser [RBJ97] automate these steps:…”