A case study on the relationship between code ownership and refactoring activities in a Java software system
Matteo Orrù, Michele Marchesi · 2016
Refactoring, the activity of changing source code design without affecting its external behavior, is a widely used practice among developers, since it is considered to positively affect the quality of software systems. However, there are some "human factors" to be considered while performing refactoring, including developers knowledge of systems architecture. Recent studies showed how much "people" metrics, such as code ownership, might affect software quality as well. In this preliminary study we investigated the relationship between code ownership and refactoring activity performed by developers. This study can provide useful insights on who performs refactoring and help team leaders to properly manage human resources during software development.