The Birth of Refactoring: A Retrospective on the Nature of High-Impact Software Engineering Research

Software refactoring was independently invented in the late ´80s by two students in two research groups: Ralph Johnson´s group at the University of Illinois and David Notkin´s group at the University of Washington. This article provides a retrospective of the birth of refactoring, reflecting on how the ideas came about and were developed in those two students´ doctoral dissertations. The analysis provides useful insights for both researchers and practitioners seeking high impact in their work. This article is part of a special issue on Refactoring.