Developers inevitably work to a deadline and try different approaches, which can result in artifacts left over in the code. Even if artifacts aren't refactored, developers should still want to go back ...

If the code is covered by comprehensive unit and regression tests, this refactoring is even easier. I have found that refactoring of unfamiliar complex code is much more difficult.

Refactoring entered the mainstream with the release of “Refactoring : Improving the Design of Existing Code” by Martin Fowler in 1999, and until recently refactoring has focussed primarily on ...

For example, the Microsoft Code Analysis 2017 extension gives you built-in access to more than 100 of the most popular FxCop rules as live analyzers. The analyzers watch your C# or Visual Basic code ...

When you're refactoring legacy code, it doesn't matter if some of the tests you write happen to contradict ideal specifications. What matters is that they test the program's current behavior .