A Meta-model for Language-Independent Refactoring

Tichelaar, Sander; Ducasse, Stéphane; Demeyer, Serge; Nierstrasz, Oscar (November 2000). A Meta-model for Language-Independent Refactoring. In: International Symposium on Principles of Software Evolution (pp. 154-164). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press 10.1109/ISPSE.2000.913233

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Refactoring —- transforming code while preserving behaviour —- is currently considered a key approach for improving object-oriented software systems. Unfortunately, all of the current refactoring tools depend on language-dependent refactoring engines, which prevents a smooth integration with mainstream development environments. In this paper we investigate the similarities between refactorings for Smalltalk and Java, derive a language-independent meta-model and show that it is feasible to build a language-independent refactoring engine on top of this meta-model. Our feasibility study is validated by means of a tool prototype which uses the same engine to refactor both Smalltalk and Java code. Using our approach we minimize the language-dependent part of refactoring tools, providing a standard way for programmers and tools to perform refactorings no matter what language they work in.

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