Easiest way to refactor package in C# or Java?

Question

I'm very annoyed by C# or Java refactoring of namespaces or packages. If you referenced in many classes a class in a common package used in many independent projects and if you decide to just move that package as a package child of the current parent package you have to modify all clients just because you cannot use generic imports like this

import mypackage.*

which would allow refactoring without impacting clients.

So how do you manage to do refactoring when impact can be so big for such a small change ?

What if it's client's code not under my control am I stuck ?

Answer 1

Use an IDE with support for refactoring. If you move a java file in Eclipse, all references are updated. Same for rename, package name changes, etc. Very handy.

Answer 2

It sounds like your asking about packages that are compiled and deployed to other projects as for instance, a jar file. This is one reason why getting your API as correct as possible is so important.

How to Design a Good API and Why it Matters

I think that you could deprecate the existing structure and modify each class to be a wrapper or facade to the new refactored class. This might give you flexibility to continue improving the new structure while slowing migrating projects that use the old code.

Answer 3

imagine someone doing an import like import com.* and if it was like what you wanted it to be, it will load anything and everything in a com package which means zillions of classes are going to be imported, and then you will complain about why it is so slow, why it requires too much memory......

In your case, if you use a IDE, that will take care of most of the work and will be very easy but you will still need to deploy new executables to your clients as well if your application architecture requires.