[realSlavojTrump]

I enjoyed the first edition immensely. Some folks are calling out that most of the refactorings are mainstream, but IDE integration doesn’t mean that it has become common practice or second nature to most engineers.

If I was going to read a refactoring book while waiting for the second edition, I would take a look at “Refactoring to patterns.” (https://industriallogic.com/xp/refactoring/) R2P combines the best parts of Fowler’s Refactoring and the Gang of Four design pattern book.

Notably: it emphasizes the fluid nature of Refactoring and design patterns. Every Refactoring to a pattern in the book is shown in a few different ways, each explaining some of the trade offs. It has the same recipe book feel that Fowler’s book has and it lends itself to browsing and reference.

The recipe-driven approach makes it easy to carry out the refactorings and provides a fun new way to think about modifying code.

Imho, the section on the “Compose method” Refactoring in R2P makes the purchase worth it. How can such a dead simple Refactoring make code so much nicer? Read the book to find out ;)