[BangPypers] refactoring

[Sateesh Kumar]

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Kenneth Gonsalves <lawgon at au-kbc.org> wrote:

> hi,
>
> I know that this has cropped up in a parallel thread, but anyway I would
> like a new thread on this. In a LUG list a ruby guy made a statement
> that 'No self respecting developer could function without having read
> the refactoring book'. How relevant is this to python? I do not see much
> except years ago something called bicycle repair man - is that still
> used? or is this whole thing buzz?
>
I have read the book in parts and have used the some of the
practices/techniques mentioned in the book during working with
Java. While the focus of the book is much toward object oriented
development (and it uses Java for code examples) I think some of the
practices the book refers could be relevant to Python development as
well. Some of the techniques(say rename method[1], parametrize method
[2] etc.) are good software development practices which IMHO would be
relevant across wide array of programming languages. May be a good
developer could think of some of these techniques on his own or become
familiar of those practices through other sources, but what the book
provides a catalog of such good practices. So reading or skimming
through that book and adapting some of the practices would help one to
write better code. However the statement "reading the book is must for
a self respecting developer" seems to me a strongly opinionated one.

In case if you are looking for a refactoring library for Python take a
look at Rope[3]. I have used the emacs plugin for Rope for some minor
refactorings (like renaming a method) and found it useful.

1. http://www.refactoring.com/catalog/renameMethod.html
2. http://www.refactoring.com/catalog/parameterizeMethod.html
3. http://rope.sourceforge.net/

regards,
sateesh