"Code refactoring is any change to a computer program's code that improves its readability or simplifies its structure without changing its results." - Wikipedia

I've met quite a bunch of developers that felt refactoring was a waste of time. "Why would you write code only to change the code at a later point? Why not just write the code perfectly in the first place?" or "You're writing code for the same functionality over and over again, isn't that a waste of time?"

I hope to prove to you that there is much power in refactoring, but with power comes responsibility.

It seems a trend lately amongst open source projects to get their users to contribute together during a day. For the symfony framework, today is such a day, and 58 people have signed up to help the symfony framework make a big step forwards. Thanks to Ibuildings, I am one of those 58.

I am using my full workday today to help symfony. From fixing bugs to extending the functionality of plugins to updating documentation, everything gets to be done today. I have already fixed a bug in the example code of the Easy Ajax tutorial. And currently I am working on extending the functionality of the sfSimpleForumPlugin, a plugin that allows people to set up a forum inside their symfony project with a few clicks.

On a regular basis, Ibuildings employees give internal presentations or workshops to share knowledge or present something they are enthusiastic about. Yesterday evening I was able to give a presentation to quite a nice group of my colleagues about the symfony framework. The evening was split up in two parts.

The first part was approximately an hour, in which I presented a non-technical overview of what symfony is. In the second part, I gave a short theoretical introduction into symfony from a more technical standpoint, after which those present actually got to work with symfony a bit.