Chapter 6. Restructuring (The Operating Table)

“The end of art is to figure the hidden meaning of things and not their appearance; for in this profound truth lies their true reality, which does not appear in their external outlines.”

— Aristotle

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Beyond simple rewriting lies the deeper analysis and restructuring of your program. In this chapter I’ll cover several important aspects of restructuring inherited code.

6.1. Keep It Brief

A big problem with the maintainability of many programs is that their code units are just too long. (By “code unit” I mean a subroutine or the main program.) Once a code unit exceeds the length of what you can view ...

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