Re:In Defense of Copy and Paste
by michaelfeathers on Saturday February 09, 2013 @05:05AM
(#5192232)
One of the things that people don't get about refactoring is that it is not just a matter of extracting things or removing duplication. Sometimes you merge things or re-introduce duplication to get someplace better.
When you look at refactoring examples online, they often make that mistake. There's a straight arrow toward a "better solution" but without any backtracking. It's a hobbled view of refactoring.
To bring it home, in the blog example, I think is perfectly fine to remove duplication in the way listed as "bad", as long as you reintroduce the duplication when you have a bit of trouble. Much of the time, you're lucky and you don't.
When you look at refactoring examples online, they often make that mistake. There's a straight arrow toward a "better solution" but without any backtracking. It's a hobbled view of refactoring.
To bring it home, in the blog example, I think is perfectly fine to remove duplication in the way listed as "bad", as long as you reintroduce the duplication when you have a bit of trouble. Much of the time, you're lucky and you don't.