A Model of Refactoring Tool Use
Emerson R. Murphy-Hill · 2009
For the most part, refactoring tools have changed little since the Smalltalk Refactoring Browser. By continuing to mimic the Refactoring Browser’s user interface, the community of tool builders may be not find new user interfaces that help programmers do their job more effectively. In this position paper, I put forward a general model of how programmers use Refactoring Browser-like tools. I argue that the model is useful for breaking away from the design of traditional refactoring tools and thinking about the design of new ones.