A new article has been posted on the Ibuildings techPortal site today from Stefan Koopmanschap The article looks at refactoring applications: what it is, how it can help you and a few requirements for doing it successfully.

If you read articles, visit websites, read tech books or visit conferences you will undoubtedly have heard about the term refactoring. There is a good chance you've been refactoring yourself already, whether you knew it or not. In this article you will be introduced to the practice of refactoring. The basic definition will be discussed, as well as reasons for refactoring and how to actually refactor your code. The difference between refactoring your code and rewriting your code will also be explained.

After explaining what refactoring is, he gets into how it can help your applications and some of the key things it will help you with like the creation of a more structured API, development of unit tests and a larger knowledge of the code base. A code example of refactoring is also included.