 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Java Forum / Tools / November 2003refactor tool
Hi; Can anyone advise on a (low cost or freeware) refactoring tool? I don't mind if its stand-alone, or a plugin to netbeans or jEdit? It might even make me switch my main coding environment. I have tried IDEA ide, but am not ready to purchase it. Have also tried reFactorIt! plug-in for Netbeans, and again am not ready to spend $295 just for this, as great as it is. Thanks -nat > Hi; > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > reFactorIt! plug-in for Netbeans, and again am not ready to spend $295 just for > this, as great as it is. Eclipse. robert > Can anyone advise on a (low cost or freeware) refactoring tool? > I don't mind if its stand-alone, or a plugin to netbeans or jEdit? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > reFactorIt! plug-in for Netbeans, and again am not ready to spend $295 just for > this, as great as it is. Give Eclipse a try - it's free and has good refactoring support.  SignatureJon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.com> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet If replying to the group, please do not mail me too [To whom it might concern. I suspect many are in the same boat...] I have looked at Eclipse (wasn't aware about its refactoring features) but I gave up on it since it seemed so radically different conceptually than a typical IDE.( I wasn't going to invest hours of learning yet-another-ide, just becuase it *might* become *the* environment I was looking for.) For example, after using jDeveloper for about a year, I took a shot at Netbeans and was productive within a day (say about 8-12 hours). After using Netbeans for many months, I tried IDEA (since I have practically given up on gui tools, or maybe I became professional enough to code everything 'manually') and was really intrigued with its usefullness, and was able to utilize it's features within one hour of download. (Alas, right now I'm short on cash...) But when I looked at Eclipse it seemed like at least a week will elapse before I 'code for real' with it. Maybe its due to a different approach, or maybe I was just tired and lazy when examining it. Now, I don't mind a week investment if I know that I will be happy with this tool for quite a while... Your opinions are most welcome. (Might not respond until late Sunday/Monday.) Thanks -nat I agree with your take on Eclipse but Eclipse rules! After the initial investment in learning the environment you will be very happy with it. > [To whom it might concern. I suspect many are in the same boat...] > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Thanks > -nat Is refactoring built-in and is it as thorough as reFactorIt!? thanks > Is refactoring built-in and is it as thorough as reFactorIt!? Yes and don't know, because I don't know reFactorIt. But you can do a lot including renaming of classes, packages, methods, inlining methods, extracting methods....... Regards robert Thank you all. I might give I might give Eclipse another "go". Does t have an automated (or easy) way to import Netbeans projects? thanks -nat > Thank you all. I might give I might give Eclipse another "go". > Does t have an automated (or easy) way to import Netbeans projects? AFAIK no. robert "natG" <natgross@easy-management-systems.com> wrote on 03 Nov 2003: > Thank you all. I might give I might give Eclipse another "go". > Does t have an automated (or easy) way to import Netbeans projects? It's tricky, especially if you have a folder for sources and another one for classes... But you can create a new project in eclipse and add your sources-folder to this project (with the wizard). You should have a backup available, 'cause it's possible that eclipse removes folders that don't contain sources. In this case you have to restore these folders from your backup. HTH, Michael. > "natG" <natgross@easy-management-systems.com> wrote on 03 Nov 2003: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > It's tricky, especially if you have a folder for sources and another one > for classes... I've found that this is especially easy with eclipse. > But you can create a new project in eclipse and add your > sources-folder to this project (with the wizard). Well, you have to create a new Eclipse project anyway. If you reuse an existing project directory tree, you can easily set up which of the folders are Java source folders and where the compiled classes go. > You should have a backup available, 'cause it's possible that eclipse > removes folders that don't contain sources. In this case you have to > restore these folders from your backup. Backup is always good, but I never experienced Eclipse removing folders other than in the "bin" path. Cheers robert Thank you all. It seems doable. If I run into insurmountable problems I shall start a new thread/topic. -nat Here's a naive question. What, formally, is 'refactoring'. I'm familar with the term in a general sense as jargon for rearranging and modifying a class heirarchy (or other code base) to make it more appropriate to the task at hand. This ususally occurs after enough experience has been gained with the task, or the task has mutated, to make the original design not optimal. The availability of tools for refactoring suggest there might be a formal description and that refactoring is a well-defined concept to allow it to be approached programatically. Thanks in advance for enlightening me. jim cant > Hi; > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Thanks > -nat > The availability of tools for refactoring suggest there might be a formal > description and that refactoring is a well-defined concept to allow it to > be approached programatically. I'm not an expert. It seems that the word refactoring is used with two meanings. One meaning is to describe the general activity that you described. (I guess then refactoring is a verb.) Another meaning is to describe a certain move that's part of the general activity. (I think that's a noun, then.) Several of these moves have been described in the famous book by Martin Fowler. Amongst them are, encapsulating a field (using getter/setter methods instead of directly accessing a member variable), extracting some code from a method into another method, and moving a method to a superclass. So you can highlight a region of code and tell the refactoring tool to extract that code into another method. But there is no tool that will find the right code to be extracted into another method. Part of the general concept of refactoring is the idea that the software gets "better" in some sense, but I don't think that there is a formal definition of which programs are "better". So just applying several moves one after the other doesn't necessarily mean that you're refactoring. Kai >Part of the general concept of refactoring is the idea that the >software gets "better" in some sense, but I don't think that there is >a formal definition of which programs are "better". So just applying >several moves one after the other doesn't necessarily mean that you're >refactoring. Just to emphasize the truth of your statement: "Extract Method" and "Inline Method" are opposite refactorings. Either one can be useful in improving the code. Ditto for "Change Value to Reference" and "Change Reference to Value". To expand upon the latter, Fowler's first words about "Change Reference to Value" is: "As with Change Value to Reference (...), the decision between a reference and a value object is not always clear. It is a decision that often needs reversing." Refactoring certainly isn't an exact science. :-) Cheers Bent D SignatureBent Dalager - bcd@pvv.org - http://www.pvv.org/~bcd powered by emacs > Part of the general concept of refactoring is the idea that the > software gets "better" in some sense, but I don't think that there is > a formal definition of which programs are "better". So just applying > several moves one after the other doesn't necessarily mean that you're > refactoring. If you apply refactoring rules, you are refactoring. It's a completely different question whether you are refactoring wisely. Ville Oikarinen Jim; http://www.refactoring.com/ should answer all your question and then some. That page has many links to material at all levels. Cheers; -nat > I'm familar with the term in a general sense as jargon for rearranging > and modifying a class heirarchy (or other code base) to make it more > appropriate to the task at hand. This ususally occurs after enough > experience has been gained with the task, or the task has mutated, > to make the original design not optimal. To return to Jim's original definition, if we just ignore the idea about 'appropriate to the task at hand' and just assume that refactoring is looking more locally and say 'to make some part of the code clearer' allows for the possible conflict between opposing refactorings. One part of the code may become clearer while another may become less clear. -Paul Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. There are no hidden fees and no obligation. Simply choose a title, complete the application form and submit it. Read more ...
|
Reply to this Message
|
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.