Many times we're handed someone else's code. "It's working code; the last guy who worked on it said so", says our boss. Then he leaves the room. After close examination, we conclude there isn't a single test in sight. No proof it works, or a safety net to make our changes. Just "working" code.

As craftsmen we vowed never to write crap. We intend to try to do what we can to turn this very smelly piece of code to a rose garden. But where do we start? How do we proceed?

This is not a theoretical refactoring session. It's hands-on code resuscitation. We're going to take a "working" piece of C++ code, and carve it, fix it, extract it, test it and add functionality.

We're going to give the code a makeover. We're going to be proud of it, and the "last guy" won't recognize it. But he'll be able to add features to it, fix bugs and know he's not damaging the system.

This session is intended for C++ developers and development team leaders who would like to learn about tools and practices to make code production ready. We'll talk about why the code smells, and how to help it expose its inner beauty.