System and methodology for asynchronous code refactoring with symbol injection

A system for automatically applying a refactoring to a second software module based on a refactoring of a first software module, the system comprising:

• a computer having a processor and memory;
• a refactoring module for refactoring the first software module to propagate a change to all instances of a particular symbol in the first software module in response to the change that affects the particular symbol of the first software module;
• a recording module for recording meta data about changes made to the first software module in a first project during the refactoring of the first software module at a given point in time;
• an injector module for copying symbol information about the particular symbol of the first software module into a symbol table for the second software module in a second project;
• and
• the refactoring module for automatically propagating the change to the second software module by applying a refactoring to the second software module at a subsequent point in time using said symbol table for the second software module and the recorded meta data about changes made to the first software module.

A method for asynchronous refactoring of a plurality of interdependent software programs, the method comprising:

• refactoring a first software program residing in a first project so as to change symbols of the first software program;
• recording information about changes made to symbols of the first software program during the refactoring of the first software program at a given point in time;
• and
• at a subsequent point in time, applying the refactoring to a second software program in a second project which is dependent upon the first software program by automatically propagating changes to symbols of the second software program based on said recorded information;
• wherein the second software program is refactored with assistance of a symbol table used for resolving symbol references, and wherein said applying step includes:
• copying information about at least one symbol used in the first software program into the symbol table used for refactoring the second software program.

A method for applying a refactoring to a plurality of software modules, the method comprising:

• recording information about changes made to a first software module in a first project during a refactoring of the first software module at a given point in time;
• at a subsequent point in time, refactoring a second software module in a second project by performing substeps of:
• creating at least one symbol table entry based upon the recorded information about changes made to the first software module;
• wherein said creating substep includes creating source code based on the first software module and the recorded information;
• injecting said at least one symbol table entry into a symbol table for a second software module;
• wherein said injecting substep includes indirectly injecting symbol table entries for a class into the symbol table by parsing the source code and directly injecting symbol table entries for members of the class into the symbol table;
• and
• refactoring the second software module using said symbol table and the recorded information about changes made to the first software module.