Refactoring a Decade‑Old Query Understanding Module: Identifying Code Smells, Motivations, and Remedies
The article details a three‑month refactor of a ten‑year‑old query‑understanding backend, describing the code smells encountered—duplicate code, long functions, bloated classes, oversized parameter lists, confusing temporaries, ignored warnings, and magic numbers—along with their motivations, preventive measures, and the performance improvements achieved after cleanup.
