Source Factoring is a general method for separating various orthogonal attributes of source code in order to simplify and clarify manipulation and transformation by handling each attribute independently. In particular, it is one of a number of practical methods for preserving source code formatting attributes such as spacing and commenting across source transformations.

Source Factoring is the usual method for preserving input formatting and commenting characteristics when using TXL. Use of source factoring with TXL is described in the paper:

A.J. Malton, K.A. Schneider, J.R. Cordy, T.R. Dean, D. Cousineau and J. Reynolds, "Processing Software Source Text in Automated Design Recovery and Transformation", Proc. IWPC 2001 - IEEE 9th International Workshop on Program Comprehension, Toronto, May 2001, pp. 127-134.

-- JamesCordy - 10 Oct 2005