Book Image

Refactoring with C#

By : Matt Eland
5 (1)
Book Image

Refactoring with C#

5 (1)
By: Matt Eland

Overview of this book

Software projects start as brand-new greenfield projects, but invariably become muddied in technical debt far sooner than you’d expect. In Refactoring with C#, you'll explore what technical debt is and how it arises before walking through the process of safely refactoring C# code using modern tooling in Visual Studio and more recent C# language features using C# 12 and .NET 8. This book will guide you through the process of refactoring safely through advanced unit testing with XUnit and libraries like Moq, Snapper, and Scientist .NET. You'll explore maintainable code through SOLID principles and defensive coding techniques made possible in newer versions of C#. You'll also find out how to run code analysis and write custom Roslyn analyzers to detect and resolve issues unique to your code. The nature of coding is changing, and you'll explore how to use AI with the GitHub Copilot Chat to refactor, test, document, and generate code before ending with a discussion about communicating technical debt to leadership and getting organizational buy-in to refactor your code in enterprise organizations and in agile teams. By the end of this book, you'll understand the nature of refactoring and see how you can safely, effectively, and repeatably pay down the technical debt in your application while adding value to your business.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1: Refactoring with C# in Visual Studio
7
Part 2: Refactoring Safely
13
Part 3: Advanced Refactoring with AI and Code Analysis
18
Part 4: Refactoring in the Enterprise

Getting organizational buy-in

We’ve seen how we can track and prioritize technical debt, and we’ve seen how involving management in the process of tracking technical risk can help build trust and understanding, but let’s talk about scenarios where development leadership must “pitch” a major refactoring effort to management.

These conversations can be stressful and represent a critical turning point in software projects. In these high-stakes conversations, your goal is to communicate the following things succinctly and respectfully:

  • The problem facing the team and its impact if it is not resolved
  • The proposed solution (or a set of proposed solutions to consider)
  • The cost of the refactoring effort in terms of developer hours
  • The timetable of the refactoring effort
  • What you’d like management to do

Note that your goal here isn’t to get them to agree to what you are proposing. Your goal is to get them to...