Towards Generic Refactoring

Abstract

We study program refactoring while considering the language or even the programming paradigm as a parameter. We use typed functional programs, namely Haskell programs, as the specification medium for a corresponding refactoring framework. In order to detach ourselves from language syntax, our specifications adhere to the following style. (I) As for primitive algorithms for program analysis and transformation, we employ generic function combinators supporting generic traversal and polymorphic functions refined by ad-hoc cases. (II) As for the language abstractions involved in refactorings, we design a dedicated multi-parameter class. This class can be instantiated for abstractions as present in various languages, e.g., Java, Prolog or Haskell.