I always thought that refactoring tools should be compilers.
That way you can reuse all of the parsing code / DCE code / flow analysis / etc / etc.
The extra mapping is something a "normal" (i.e. single-language) refactorer has to do anyways. Assuming its a half-decent refactoring tool its not just doing a find-replace.
The subtle differences / drawbacks you mention a compiler also has to deal with. Actually, everything you mention a compiler also has to deal with. You could say the same about compilers (there's no actual need for an IR with a compiler, for instance. You can operate on the AST directly. And you don't need to build an IR rich enough to keep semantics in all languages unless you're supporting multiple languages. Etc. Etc.) And yet we have GCC.
That way you can reuse all of the parsing code / DCE code / flow analysis / etc / etc.
The extra mapping is something a "normal" (i.e. single-language) refactorer has to do anyways. Assuming its a half-decent refactoring tool its not just doing a find-replace.
The subtle differences / drawbacks you mention a compiler also has to deal with. Actually, everything you mention a compiler also has to deal with. You could say the same about compilers (there's no actual need for an IR with a compiler, for instance. You can operate on the AST directly. And you don't need to build an IR rich enough to keep semantics in all languages unless you're supporting multiple languages. Etc. Etc.) And yet we have GCC.