diff --git a/src/content/daily-email/2023-09-17.md b/src/content/daily-email/2023-09-17.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d7742d1b --- /dev/null +++ b/src/content/daily-email/2023-09-17.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +title: > + How much refactoring should I be doing? +pubDate: 2023-09-17 +permalink: > + archive/2023/09/17/how-much-refactoring-should-i-be-doing +tags: + - software-development + - test-driven-development + - automated-testing + - refactoring +--- + +I watched a webinar recently, and one of the panellists asked, "How much refactoring should I be doing?". + +The reply was, "More than you're doing now.". + +It was quite tongue-in-cheek, but I agree that, in general, code isn't refactored enough. + +One main reason is a fear of introducing regressions, and to avoid that, you need a good automated test suite. + +If you break the existing functionality whilst refactoring, you want the test suite to fail so you can identify and fix the regression. + +If the test suite passes, you can release the new code. + +How many tests and how much coverage do you need? There's no specfic answer - enough for you to be confident everything still works.