Test-driven refactoring

Assess

Techniques

Incremental code improvement protected by automated tests to reduce regressions.

Why it's here

Placed in Assess: 1 article(s) of evidence from 1 source(s), led by research-stage coverage, with 1 in the last 30 days. Confidence 24%. Low accumulated evidence, so it defaults conservatively pending more signal.

Evidence (1)

5Martin Fowler·7/16/2026research
Using AI to Modernize Legacy Java Code
Martin Fowler highlights a legacy modernization effort in which a Java 1.5 codebase had to be made to run on modern hardware and a Java 8 target environment. The article finds that LLMs were only helpful when their output was grounded in evidence, validated in Docker, and applied through gradual, test-protected refactoring.