More often than not, developers will stop a large project in the middle of the build stage to rethink and recode the software design so it's cleaner and more efficient. Known as "refactoring," this process eats up valuable time and money. To help offset refactoring, this book presents a new process called "prefactoring," the premise of which states that you're better off considering the best possible design patterns before you even begin your project.

Prefactoring, in essence, is the art of applying the insights gleaned from previous experience (whether yours or someone else's) when developing software to new projects. Doing so will likely save you from making costly design changes midstream--and maybe even save your job!

This practical, thought-provoking guide details prefactoring guidelines in design, code, and testing, each derived from the lessons of many developers over many years. With these guidelines, you're far more likely to create more readable and maintainable code before you reach the second-guessing stage.

To help communicate the many facets of this process, Prefactoring follows the example of a fictitious client, Sam, as he seeks to create a software system from beginning to implementation. Among the topics covered:

• General development issues
  

• Implementation classes
  

• Object-oriented design
  

• Creating reports via separation of concerns
  

• Associations and states
  

• Creating and testing interfaces

If you understand object-oriented design, and you want to save time and money by considering more efficient designs before you begin your project, Prefactoring will show you the way. It won't guarantee that you'll never need to refactor your design or code again, but you're sure to cut down on the amount of refactoring you do.