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.