The LAN-simulation: A Refactoring Teaching Example

TitleThe {LAN}-simulation: A Refactoring Teaching Example
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsDemeyer, S, Van Rysselberghe F, Gîrba T, Ratzinger J, Marinescu R, Mens T, Du Bois B, Janssens D, Ducasse S, Lanza M, Rieger M, Gall H, El-Ramly M
Conference NameProceedings {IWPSE}'05 (8th International Workshop on Principles of Software Evolution)
PublisherIEEE Press
Abstract

The notion of refactoring –-transforming the source-code of an object-oriented program without changing its external behaviour –- has been studied intensively within the last decade. This diversity has created a plethora of toy-examples, cases and code snippets, which make it hard to assess the current state-of-the-art. Moreover, due to this diversity, there is currently no accepted way of teaching good refactoring practices, despite the acknowledgment in the software engineering body of knowledge. Therefore, this paper presents a common example –-the LAN simulation–- which has been used by a number of European Universities for both research and teaching purposes.