fooyeahcode — Refactor Low Hanging Fruit

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Refactor Low Hanging Fruit

Of course, with any approach, you will always encounter situations where you have to rewrite major portions of the code, or, worse, change the entire architecture. This is likely to happen due to requirement changes, or performance issues, but can happen because your initial visualization was faulty. In real life, what typically happens is, after the twister, your house lands on top of the previous lead architect, and you peer tremulously out the door at a twisted landscape of big balls of crufty mud, written by short programmers, their growth stunted by long working hours and junk food, under the spell of some lesser process than XP.This leaves you wondering where to start. Then MichaelFeathers, wearing a Wikid Witch of the North costume, appears with a copy of The Joy of LegacyCode, and smacks you across the forehead with it.

 DOROTHY
  But -- after I add tests to all this legacy code, how to I fix it? Do I
  split it down the middle? Do I look for the big common patterns ---

 MIKE
  Just refactor the low hanging fruit.

 DOROTHY
  But that sounds too easy! Shouldn't I make a plan too...

But MIKE floats away inside a SOAP bubble, leaving you all alone. With the short programmers crowding around you.

 DOROTHY
  My..! People turnover so quickly here!
  ... Refactor the low hanging fruit? Refactor the
  the low hanging fruit?

	DBA
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.

	TOOLS GUY
  Refactor the low hanging fruit!

	GUI GUY
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.

	MATH GUY
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.

	ALL
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.
  Refactor, factor, factor, factor,
  Refactor the low hanging fruit.

  Refactor the low-hanging
  refactor the...

So, by finding the simplest possible fixes to the lowest level code within that ball of mud, and by isolating the effects of your changes with characterization tests, you can begin to tease apart its design.… And … you … are …

	Testing your way to dee-velopment
	Developing tests for the cause
	You'l find it a whiz, so give it a squiz
	Each test just gives one little pause
	The tests you test are bestests tests
	The bests are tests to test the best
	Because ... because
	because, because, because,
	Because of the wonderful code they does.
	You're testing your way to dee-velopment
	The wonderful tests for the cause!