Improving usability of software refactoring tools

Post-deployment maintenance and evolution can ac-count for up to 75 % of the cost of developing a software system. Software refactoring can reduce the costs associ-ated with evolution by improving system quality. Although refactoring can yield benefits, the process includes poten-tially complex, error-prone, tedious and time-consuming tasks. It is these tasks that automated refactoring tools seek to address. However, although the refactoring pro-cess is well-defined, current refactoring tools do not sup-port the full process. To develop better automated refactoring support, we have completed a usability study of software refactoring tools. In the study, we analysed the task of software refac-toring using the ISO 9241–11 usability standard and Fitts’ List of task allocation. Expanding on this analysis, we re-viewed 11 collections of usability guidelines and combined these into a single list of 38 guidelines. From this list, we developed 81 usability requirements for refactoring tools. Using these requirements, the software refactoring tools Eclipse 3.2, Condenser 1.05, RefactorIT 2.5.1, and Eclipse 3.2 with the Simian UI 2.2.12 plugin were studied. Based on the analysis, we have selected a subset of the require-ments that will be incorporated into a prototype refactor-ing tool intended to address the full refactoring process.