C- Refactory

So far refactoring tools have appeared for a number of languages. After Smalltalk's lead, we've seen several tools for Java and a couple for C#. One language conspicuous by its absence is C++, despite appeals. All this despite the fact that the first refactoring thesis was done by Bill Opdyke, who's background is in C++.

There are several reasons for this, including the sheer complexity of the C++ language. Such difficulties don't stop the determined for long, however, and Ralph Johnson has been determined to continue the good tradition of refactoring work at UIUC. Since C++ is so tricky, there's a lot to be said with starting with C. C avoids some of the complexity of C++, and there's no shortage of refactorable C programs out there. In addition C shares several of C++'s serious challenges, such as the pre-processor.

I caught up with Ralph at JAOO recently and he filled me in on the research of Alejandra Garrido who has taken up the challenge of the C Refactory. His description was dominated by the difficulties of dealing with the C pre-processor, particular conditional compilation and macros. The essential problem is that accurate refactoring operates on the abstract syntax tree (AST) of the program, but macros distance the program text from the AST. As a result a C refactoring tool needs to build a macro-aware AST which holds within it the variants of the AST that would be compiled. It's hairy work but Alejandra has had some success, including reading in source to the Linux kernel as part of the testing for the research tool.

It's still too early to have programmers all over the world using tools to refactor their C, but those of you that are interested might enjoy a dip into the C Refactory website. It contains a bunch of papers by Alejandra and Ralph, and describes how to get on a mailing list to find out more about this this work.