Abstract
Refactoring is the process of changing a software system in such a way that it does not alter the external behavior of the code yet improves its internal structure. Not only researchers but also practitioners need to know past instances of refactoring performed in a software development project. So far, a number of techniques have been proposed on the automatic detection of refactoring instances. Those techniques have been presented in various international conferences and journals, and it is difficult for researchers and practitioners to grasp the current status of studies on refactoring detection techniques. In this survey paper, we introduce refactoring detection techniques, especially in techniques based on change history analysis. At first, we give the definition and the categorization of refactoring detection in this paper, and then introduce refactoring detection techniques based on change history analysis. Finally, we discuss possible future research directions on refactoring detection.
