CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2013/ch1 1w07 d

This page discusses several common metrics used in determining when to refactor code.

Background

The practice of code refactoring deals with changing the content or structure of code without changing the code's function in its execution. Code refactoring has become a standard programming practice, as it potentially promotes readability, extensibility, and reusability of code.

Whether done through an IDE or by hand, large-scale code projects can prove tedious to refactor. If minimal non-functional benefits are achieved through refactoring, time is wasted. Furthermore, if not done properly, code refactoring can actually break the functionality of the code. In the extreme case, code could be structured so badly that starting over completely may be more viable than refactoring. As such, it is important to be able to know when and what to refactor.

Metrics

There are a variety of metrics that are used to quantify the merits of refactoring. Nearly all of these metrics can be calculated by static analysis tools. The final metric mentioned could be calculated by some version control system.

Complexity

In general, complexity is a measure of the number of branches and paths in the code.

Cyclomatic complexity, in particular, is a popular metric for measuring a method's complexity. In its simplest form, cyclomatic complexity can be thought of as adding 1 to the number of decision points within the code <ref> http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13212/Code-Metrics-Code-Smells-and-Refactoring-in-Practi</ref>. These include cases in switch statements, loops, and if-else statements.

public void evaluate(condition) {
  if(condition a) {
    //do something
  }
  else {
    //do something else
  }
}

In this example, there are two decision points, so the cyclomatic complexity is 2+1=3.

Cyclomatic complexity values are divided into tiers of risk, where values less than 11 are of low risk, values between 11 and 21 are of moderate risk, values between 21 and 51 are of high risk, and values greater than 50 are of extreme risk <ref>http://www.klocwork.com/products/documentation/current/McCabe_Cyclomatic_Complexity</ref>. For a method in the first tier (e.g. with a cyclomatic complexity of 10), refactoring may not be necessary. Conversely, for a method in the extreme risk tier (e.g. with a cyclomatic complexity of 2,000), throwing out the code and starting over may be the appropriate solution instead of refactoring. For a method with a cyclomatic complexity in one of the middle tiers, refactoring is likely the best option. In such a case, the extract method operation reduces the complexity of the original method by creating a new method, as shown below.

public void evaluateAll() {
  for(int n = 0; n < conditionList.size(); n ++) {
    if(conditionList.get(n).equals(a)) {
      //do something
    }
    else {
      //do something else
    }
  }
}

Using extract method on this simple example, the original method can be reduced to the following two methods.

public void evaluateAll() {
  for(int n = 0; n < conditionList.size(); n ++) {
    evaluate(conditionList.get(n));
  }
}

public void evaluate(condition c) {
  if(c.equals(a)) {
    //do something
  }
  else {
    //do something else
  }
}

In this manner, the cyclomatic complexity of the original method is reduced.

Duplicate Code

Intuitively, the number of times similar code structures are detected form this metric. For example, although they are used to print different statements, the following code fragments contain similar structures.

If they were unified into a single method, both reusability and extensibility of the code's function would be improved. Again, using the extract method operation (or extract class, depending on the context), a new method can be created like so:

In the respective locations of the original code fragments, then, the method can be executed.

Quantitatively, no code structure should exist in more than one location <ref>http://sourcemaking.com/refactoring/duplicated-code</ref>.

Lines of Code

The number of lines of code in both methods and classes is also used as a metric to determine the quality of refactoring.

Best Practices to Improve Refactoring Quality

In review, in accordance with the application of the metrics listed above, the quality of code refactoring goes up when such produces code with:

• Methods that have a cyclomatic complexity of less than 20.
• No duplicate code structures.
• Methods that have less than 100 lines of code.
• Classes that have less than 1000 lines of code.
• A low combined cyclomatic complexity and change over time.

References

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