My initial experience of refactoring

I got my first job in life 4 months ago--"refactoring engineers." I was often asked, "What is this position?" What technology is needed for refactoring? "My answer was:" Refactoring is the front end. "However, after this 4-month job, I found that my answer was probably not so correct." So, as a refactoring engineer who is still a "newcomer," talk about what I understand and learn about this position right now. Of course, there are mistakes or improper place also please predecessors a lot of advice.

　　What does a refactoring engineer do? What kind of quality do you need?

For the restructuring of the position of the engineer, the official answer is: "The Web site as a carrier, the website's visual and interactive feedback in a better way to achieve in the terminal, the courage to challenge the existing unreasonable rules, the pursuit of standardization; the programmer in the designer, the designer in the programmer. ”

See the above explanation, you are not to say that again good to hear the refactoring engineer is not to do the Web page, refactoring engineer = Cut Figure +html+css, how simple a job! In fact, Chettu or HTML or CSS code, these are just the "props" we use, What is more important is the goal we are pursuing? What are we going to achieve? In my opinion, what the so-called reconfiguration engineer does is the most basic and critical work in the project, we are in the Chettu, but consider how to cut to make the layout of the most reasonable, the fastest loading speed, and easy to implement; we're writing code, But consider how to minimize the amount of code, JS calls the most appropriate, most compliant, best performance, maintainability best situation to achieve the minimum difference in the browser and even no difference UI presentation and user experience.

In a word, the user is able to browse the page and have a good user experience on each platform, it is to reconstruct the work of the engineers to a great extent.

At the beginning of the work, I also thought: "is not to write HTML+CSS code, any computer professional people can do it, this job will not be too simple." "After these 4 months of work, only then found their own shallow and ignorant." Make a list of the differences between how and when you are working on the job.

From the above table we are not difficult to sum up, a qualified restructuring engineers should have several qualities:

　　(i) Good communication skills

Communication is indispensable in any work, and refactoring is the same. Before a requirement formally begins to write code, the first thing we need to do is communicate with upstream product managers, visual designers, and downstream front-end engineers. In and upstream communication, we need to clear the background of this demand (why do this demand, the need for this requirement), purpose, content, need to implement the function, and then confirm the visual manuscript, there is doubt, found that there are missing places also in time to communicate. and upstream communication is over, you can determine the priority and workload of this requirement. Then and downstream communication, further determine the scope of work and implementation of refactoring.

　　(ii) The mentality of being responsible for their products

Responsible for their own products is not to say that within the time required to finish, but also should consider the performance of our output and maintainability. For example, the most basic: you make a page loading speed? Is there always a problem with the overflow in the page? Do front-end engineers think that your code is difficult to read or cause other inconveniences for their work? Are you making pages that are difficult for other colleagues to maintain? In addition, often to browse their own pages, check whether there are any problems are necessary. found that their products have any problems, should be proactive to timely repair, rather than waiting for the product manager to find, propose, and then to repair.

　(iii) The pursuit of details of the perfect spirit

A qualified reconfiguration engineer is not only to perfect the restoration of visual manuscript, in the process of making, but also to be good at discovering visual manuscripts have not noticed the problem, such as line spacing, the unity of the color of the button, the unity of the font and so on. In addition, there are large differences in the display of the browser, the code is redundant, its performance and maintainability and other professional details are also we must focus attention.

It's like a visual manuscript from the original "eye" to the present 1px, 1px to go to the volume, to check the reduction of visual manuscript, from the visual manuscript immediately to achieve the current version of the first analysis of this change, this four months, I learned more is a focus on the details of the attitude and thinking methods. What a qualified refactoring engineer pursues is the perfection of this detail and the thought of being in place. Today I learned a lot, then can learn more, perhaps in 4 months, and today different understanding.