Common Refactoring Techniques

Here are some examples of code refactoring; some of these may only apply to certain languages or language types. A longer list can be found in Fowler's Refactoring book and on Fowler's Refactoring Website.

•     Techniques that allow for more abstraction
• Encapsulate Field – force code to access the field with getter and setter methods
• Generalize Type – create more general types to allow for more code sharing
• Replace type-checking code with State/Strategy
• Replace conditional with polymorphism
• Techniques for breaking code apart into more logical pieces
• Extract Method, to turn part of a larger method into a new method. By breaking down code in smaller pieces, it is more easily understandable. This is also applicable to functions.
• Extract Class moves part of the code from an existing class into a new class.
• Techniques for improving names and location of code
• Move Method or Move Field – move to a more appropriate Class or source file
• Rename Method or Rename Field – changing the name into a new one that better reveals its purpose
• Pull Up – in OOP, move to a superclass
• Push Down – in OOP, move to a subclass

Tools that can be used to enhance refactoring technique with visual studio 2005~20xx

• Resharper
• Refactor! Pro

Among the above tools Resharper is most popular.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_refactoring
2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms379618%28VS.80%29.aspx