I’m a Java programmer who started programming Ruby on Rails one year ago. I like the language, rails itself and the principles behind them. But something that bothers me is that Ruby programmers don’t seem to refactor.
I noticed that there is a big lack of tools for refactoring in Ruby / Rails. Some IDE’s, like Aptana and RubyMine seem to offer some very basic refactoring, but nothing really big compared to Eclipse’s Java refactorings.
Then there is another fact: most railers (even the pros) prefer some lightweight editors, like VIM or TextMate, instead of IDEs. Well, with these tools you just get zero refactoring (only regex with find/replace).
This leaves me this impression that rails programmers don’t refactor. It might be just a false impression, of course, but I would like to hear the opinion of people who work professionally with ruby on rails.
Do you refactor? If you do, how do you do it,with which tools? If not, why not?
Yes.
Most Rails programmers try and follow a Test first, write code to pass the test, then refactor the code BEFORE they go onto the next test.
Do ALL rails/ruby programmers… probably not, but as far as a ‘vibe’ or ‘feel’ in this community, I’d say it’s something that is preached and practiced enough that it happens more times than not.
There is no need for IDEs imo. VIM, emacs and/or textmate is enough for Ruby and most rails programmers. I guess Java needed more compiling or something, what do I know about that though, as I’ve only programmed in Ruby. Why do all Java programmers use IDEs (since I’m generalizing).