A Programming Interface for Determining Refactorings of Object-Oriented Software Systems using Clustering

Improving the quality of the software systems design is the most important issue during the evolution of object- oriented software systems. Refactoring ([4]) is a process that helps to maintain the internal software quality, during the whole software lifecycle. A clustering approach for improving software systems design is introduced in [2]. For the same purpose, some clustering algorithms (kRED in [2], PAMRED in [8], HAC in [3]) that identify the appropriate refactorings for object-oriented software systems were developed. Based on these approaches, in this paper we aim at presenting a programming interface for determining refactorings of object-oriented software systems using clustering, RDI (Refactorings Determination Interface). Using this interface, we can simply develop applications for determining refactorings of object-oriented software systems using clustering. An experiment using the designed interface is also presented.