Title: A framework to improve quality of a Java system by performing refactoring

Authors: Randeep Singh; Amit Bindal; Ashok Kumar

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana – 133203, Ambala, India ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana – 133203, Ambala, India ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana – 133203, Ambala, India

Abstract: Software quality is a key pillar that helps provides high reliability for software. Refactoring is one of several methods that helps in improving the quality by mitigating design issues of software without affecting its external behavior. Several automated and/or semi-automated refactoring tools/approaches are available in the literature. However, they lack considering the role of human expertise and/or they may produce side effects that can further negatively affect the quality. Therefore, this paper considers proposing a more mature framework for Java systems that consumes less time and effort. The proposed framework systematically identifies design issues and then prioritise them using the expertise of developers. Further, it applies different refactorings to improve quality. The framework is tested on standard Java software systems and corresponding quality is evaluated for determining its suitability. The obtained results show the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed quality improvement framework.

Keywords: framework; software quality; refactoring; code smells; prioritisation; expert knowledge; maintenance efforts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSE.2020.10030109

International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2020 Vol.10 No.4, pp.324 - 336

Received: 17 Mar 2020
Accepted: 23 May 2020
Published online: 07 Jan 2021 *

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