A test taxonomy applied to the mechanics of java refactorings

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the automated production of all interactions between the mechanics of seventy-two refactorings proposed by Fowler in the form of chains. Each chain represents the paths a specific refactoring may follow due to its dependencies on n possible other refactorings. We enumerate all possible chains and then investigate three hypotheses related firstly, to the number of chains generated by specific refactorings and their chain length, secondly, the relevance and applicability of a test taxonomy proposed by van Deursen and Moonen (vD&M) and, finally as to whether certain 'server' refactorings exist when those chains are scrutinized. Two of the proposed hypotheses were supported by the data examined, suggesting a far deeper complexity to refactoring inter-relationships than first envisaged. We also investigated the possibility that chains eradicate bad code smells. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.