Refactoring

• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code Buy new or buy used

For being such a low-key and comparatively little known book, it's difficult not to underestimate the impact which Refactoring has had on computer science. Seven years after the book's release, IDEs are beginning to feature in-editor refactoring features; though often almost gospel to the pattern crowd, those of us familiar with refactoring principles are frequently painfully aware of their need in other code. This book is a natural compliment to Design Patterns, though this should be the second read of the two. While these aren't techniques which allow one to write new code or different systems, the amount of change they can engender in existing code frequently astonishes people who've newly adopted the practices described. Highly recommended.