I’ve read this book when I started my PhD thesis. It helped me laying down the basis of software conception.

It was the first book where I found the code smell concept. And my former code really smelt…

Content and opinions

This book became a reference for me. The patterns catalog (because I consider them as patterns) seems almost exhaustive for me. Some of the steps described are too easy (as inlining a function). It may be more difficult at first to extract a method from another, but it is still the basis of refactoring.

The main use of the book isn’t saying what one already know (inling, splitting a function, …), it is showing a new step, one one didn’t think about and that solves the problem at hand. Stating the problem, the smell, is also a main focus of the book, where Martin Fowler gives hints to distinguish between the different smells.

The author is one of the world-known unitary tests herald, so it is no wonder they have a central place in the different patterns. This way, the refactoring cannot change the code behavior. The given examples are also clear and simple enough, completely described step by step (mainly as the book goes forward, new patterns use preceding ones).

Finally, the code is written in Java, but it isn’t a problem for someone used to object-oriented language. Useful tools are also exposed, but they are old, dating from the time when the book was written (and they are mainly geared toward Java).

Conclusion

This was a really simple book. Since I closed it, I didn’t have to open it again, as the patterns are pretty simple. But still, as for every pattern, you first have to understand it (and read it) to acknowledge it. And I tend to refactor regularly following the ideas behind this book.