Yesterday, I refactored a method.

Nothing unusual about that - we refactor code constantly. Code is, after all, better described as something grown than something built, and a large part of gardening is keeping the weeds in check. Normally, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

What was unusual, though, was this was my first time pairing with Sarah, who’s relatively new to Java 8 constructs like Optionals. Pairing with someone new often leads to more discussion of what’s being done and why, which can provoke some interesting reflections.

As we stepped through the refactorings, I noticed a few simple pressures were guiding us towards a functional approach. Each one only made a small, incremental improvement. Together, they had a huge effect on the code.