# Refactoring by Martin Fowler

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Refactoring by Martin Fowler and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for showing how to improve existing code bit by bit, with solid tests as the essential precondition. One critic found much of it already obvious from experience.

## Why people recommend it

- Tests make changing code safe (2 comments): "One of my take-aways after reading that book is that the specific implementation of a function is not very important if you have tests." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249154)) "to refactor, the essential precondition is [...] solid tests" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49111806))
- Practical tools for incremental code improvement (1 comments): "It's a set of tools and justifications for chipping away at that pain bit by bit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971436))
- Useful generalist language and system book (1 comments): "Refactoring by Fowler is also a great generalist language and system book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45955092))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mythical-man-month.md): 56 recommend
- [Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann](https://hackerapproved.com/p/designing-data-intensive-applications.md): 37 recommend
- [A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-philosophy-of-software-design.md): 28 recommend
- [Code Complete by Steve McConnell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-complete.md): 14 recommend
- [The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/architecture-of-open-source-applications.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321604180?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780321604187) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Refactoring by Martin Fowler", https://hackerapproved.com/p/refactoring/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).