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

Summary

Legacy code is an unavoidable byproduct of the forces of time and constant change that are present in software development projects. This legacy code becomes a breeding ground for technical debt, which threatens our productivity as developers and the quality of our software.

While technical debt can arise due to a number of reasons, refactoring is the cure. Refactoring reworks existing code into a more maintainable and less risky form, reducing our technical debt and helping us control our legacy code.

The more you understand the causes and effects of technical debt in your code, the better you’ll find yourself equipped to explain technical debt to others in your organization, advocate for refactoring, and avoid things that cause your code to decline in effectiveness over time.

In the next chapter, we’ll explore refactoring in more depth by walking through a set of targeted changes to improve a piece of sample code from the Cloudy Skies Airlines codebase...