Type constraints express subtype relationships between the types of program expressions, for example those relationships that are required for type correctness. Type constraints were originally proposed as a convenient framework for solving type checking and type inference problems. This paper shows how type constraints can be used as the basis for practical refactoring tools. In our approach, a set of type constraints is derived from a type-correct program P. The main insight behind our work is the fact that P constitutes just one solution to this constraint system, and that alternative solutions may exist that correspond to refactored versions of P. We show how a number of refactorings for manipulating types and class hierarchies can be expressed naturally using type constraints. Several refactorings in the standard distribution of Eclipse are based on our work.
By: Frank Tip; Robert M. Fuhrer; Adam Kiezun; Michael D. Ernst; Ittai Balaban; Bjorn De Sutter
Published in: RC24804 in 2009
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