Refactoring Code

Refactoring is an essential part of improving software quality. It involves restructuring existing code without changing its behavior, aiming to enhance readability, maintainability, and performance. In this blog post, I'll take you through how I refactored my code, focusing on each stage of the process and how I used Git tools like rebase and squash to clean up my project's history.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

• Split Code into Multiple Files: My initial script was growing unwieldy. I decided to split the code into separate files for different functionalities. For example, I moved utility functions into utils.py and the main analysis logic into analyzer.py. This made the code modular and easier to read.

Using Git to Manage Changes

Interactive Rebase

Interactive rebase (git rebase -i) is a powerful tool for rewriting commit history. During this refactoring, I used rebase to organize my commits in a meaningful way.

• Combining Commits: Instead of having three commits that represented individual small changes, I combined them into one logical commit. This way, the commit history clearly shows one refactor, rather than multiple messy changes.
• Editing Commit Messages: Rewriting commit messages during rebase allowed me to add more descriptive details, making it easier for others (and future me) to understand the changes.

Git Squash

While using rebase, I also applied the squash command to merge multiple commits into a single cohesive commit.

• Why Squash?: By squashing multiple commits, I made my project's history cleaner. Squashing helps present the end product of a series of changes without the noise of every single incremental adjustment.
• Final Commit: I ended up with one well-documented commit that encompassed the entire refactor, titled: "Refactor: Extract utility functions and split code into separate files."

Lessons Learned During Refactoring

• Handling Merge Conflicts: During the process, I ran into some merge conflicts. They occurred because there were changes in both the main branch and my refactoring branch. Handling these conflicts taught me more about how to carefully review differences and make decisions about which changes to keep.
• Breaking the Code: There were moments when my code broke due to some changes I made while moving functions around. I learned to rely on small, incremental changes and test regularly to prevent breaking the application.
• No Bugs Found (This Time!): Fortunately, while refactoring, I didn't discover any new bugs. This was a sign that my original functionality was sound, and the refactoring successfully made the code cleaner without introducing issues.

Conclusion

These changes made my project cleaner, more organized, and easier for others to understand. And thanks to Git, I could confidently make these changes, knowing I had the tools to manage the history and avoid chaos.