Refactoring at Scale: Regaining Control of Your Codebase

Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
	Who Should Read This Book
	Why I Wrote This Book
	Navigating This Book
	Conventions Used in This Book
	Using Code Examples
	O’Reilly Online Learning
	How to Contact Us
	Acknowledgments
Part I. Introduction
	Chapter 1. Refactoring
		What Is Refactoring?
		What Is Refactoring at Scale?
		Why Should You Care About Refactoring?
		Benefits of Refactoring
			Developer Productivity
			Identifying Bugs
		Risks of Refactoring
			Serious Regressions
			Unearthing Dormant Bugs
			Scope Creep
			Unnecessary Complexity
		When to Refactor
			Small Scope
			Code Complexity Actively Hinders Development
			Shift in Product Requirements
			Performance
			Using a New Technology
		When Not to Refactor
			For Fun or Out of Boredom
			Because You Happened to Be Passing By
			To Making Code More Extendable
			When You Don’t Have Time
		Our First Refactoring Example
			Simplifying Conditionals
			Extracting Magic Numbers
			Extracting Self-Contained Logic
	Chapter 2. How Code Degrades
		Why Understanding Code Degradation Matters
		Requirement Shifts
			Scalability
			Accessibility
			Device Compatibility
			Environmental Changes
			External Dependencies
			Unused Code
			Changes in Product Requirements
		Tech Debt
			Working Around Technology Choices
			Persistent Lack of Organization
			Moving Too Quickly
		Applying Our Knowledge
Part II. Planning
	Chapter 3. Measuring Our Starting State
		Why Is Measuring the Impact of a Refactor Difficult?
		Measuring Code Complexity
			Halstead Metrics
			Cyclomatic Complexity
			NPath Complexity
			Lines of Code
		Test Coverage Metrics
		Documentation
			Formal Documentation
			Informal Documentation
		Version Control
			Commit Messages
			Commits in Aggregate
		Reputation
		Building a Complete Picture
	Chapter 4. Drafting a Plan
		Defining Your End State
			On the Road
			At Work
		Mapping the Shortest Distance
			On the Road
			At Work
		Identifying Strategic Intermediate Milestones
			On the Road
			At Work
		Choosing a Rollout Strategy
			Dark Mode/Light Mode
			Smart DNA’s Rollout
		Cleaning Up Artifacts
		Referencing Metrics in Your Plan
			Interpolating Goal Metrics to Intermediate Milestones
			Distinct Milestone Metrics
		Estimating
		Sharing Your Plan with Other Teams
			Transparency
			Perspective
		Refined Plan
	Chapter 5. Getting Buy-In
		Why Your Manager Is Not Onboard
			Managers Aren’t Coding
			Managers Are Evaluated Differently
			Managers See the Risk
			Managers Need to Coordinate
		Strategies for Making a Compelling Argument
			Using Conversational Devices
			Building an Alignment Sandwich
			Relying on Evidence
			Playing Hardball
		Buy-In Shapes the Refactor
	Chapter 6. Building the Right Team
		Identifying Different Kinds of Experts
		Matchmaking
			Experts of Many Trades
			Revisiting Active Contributors
			Biases in Our Expert List
		Types of Refactoring Teams
			Owners
			Proposed Approach
			Cleanup Crews
		The Pitch
			Metrics
			Generosity
			Opportunity
			Bartering
			Repeat
		A Few Outcomes
			Realistic Scenario
			Worst-Case Scenario
		Fostering Strong Teams
Part III. Execution
	Chapter 7. Communication
		Within Your Team
			Stand-Ups
			Weekly Syncs
			Retrospectives
		Outside Your Team
			When Kicking Off the Project
			During Project Execution
		Always Iterate
	Chapter 8. Strategies for Execution
		Team Building
			Pair Programming
			Keeping Everyone Motivated
		Keeping a Tally
			Intermediate Metric Measurements
			Unearthed Bugs
			Clean-Up Items
			Out-of-Scope Items
		Programming Productively
			Prototyping
			Keep Things Small
			Test, Test, Test
			Asking the “Stupid” Question
		Conclusion
	Chapter 9. Making the Refactor Stick
		Fostering Adoption
		Education
			Active Education
			Passive Education
		Reinforcement
			Progressive Linting
			Code Analysis Tools
			Gates Versus Guardrails
		Integrating Improvement into the Culture
Part IV. Case Studies
	Chapter 10. Case Study: Redundant Database Schemas
		Slack 101
		Slack Architecture 101
		Scalability Problems
			Booting Up the Slack Client
			File Visibility
			Mentions
		Consolidating the Tables
			Gathering the Scattered Queries
			Developing a Migration Strategy
			Quantifying Our Progress
			Attempting to Keep the Team Motivated
			Communicating Our Progress
		Tidying Up
		Lessons Learned
			Develop a Well-Defined, Well-Communicated Plan
		Understand the Code’s History
			Ensure Adequate Test Coverage
			Keep Your Team Motivated
			Focus on Strategic Milestones
			Identify and Rely on Meaningful Metrics
		Takeaways
	Chapter 11. Case Study: Migrating to a New Database
		Workspace-Sharded Data
		Migrating channels_members to Vitess
			Sharding Scheme
			Developing a New Schema
		Detangling JOINs
		A Difficult Rollout
			Backfill Mode
			Dark Mode
			Light Mode
			Sunset Mode
		Tidying Up
		Lessons Learned
			Set Realistic Estimates
			Source the Teammates You Need
			Plan Scope Carefully
			Choose a Single Place for Project Communication
			Design a Thoughtful Rollout Plan
		Takeaways
Index
About the Author
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