Application of LP Structures Theory to Intelligent Attribute Merger Refactoring.

An approach to automatized object-oriented code refactoring is described that applies LP structures theory to type hierarchy transformations, which merge attributes sharing common subclasses. A distinctive feature of these algebraic structures is their ability to model aggregation not as a relation between independent sets of types and attributes, but as a relation between specific types. The property enables a more adequate modeling of type hierarchies. The described approach is dual to the "Pull Up Field" refactoring method that was considered in the previous works related to the applications of LP structures theory. In this paper, LP structures on type lattices are extended to be able to model a wider range of type hierarchies and to accommodate external constraints on the refactoring process. Also, the paper details the process of constructing and applying the model.