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Refactoring applies small behaviour-preserving changes, while rewrite means throwing away the existing code and restarting from scratch. Refactoring should retain bugs like for like, while a rewrite removes all the previously known bugs while it adds new unknown ones (hopefully less than before and/or less severe). The process of refactoring can be stopped at any moment and the system remains functional at all times. On its hand the rewrite must be completed before it can replace the previous code. If it is not completed then the new code is [[dead code]] or [[unreachable code]] and is immediately subject to [[software rot]]. [[User:JnRouvignac|JnRouvignac]] ([[User talk:JnRouvignac|talk]]) 08:03, 24 November 2016 (UTC)
:I agree. Although, I think your definition of refactoring is just a bit too rigorous. In the real world, at least in my experience, people can sometimes make minor changes to the functionality while doing refactoring. So for example, if I find that I have some class, hexagon that is created all by itself and then I realize it should inherit from the shape class, I would consider that refactoring even though the behavior may change (e.g., by making hexagon a subclass of shape it may inherit new behaviors that weren't originally needed but now are). But thats just a quibble, in general I definitely agree rewriting or re-enginnering code is not the same as refactoring (I said similar things in an earlier thread). --[[User:MadScientistX11|MadScientistX11]] ([[User talk:MadScientistX11|talk]]) 16:27, 24 November 2016 (UTC)
I am against merging this document. The concept and term of refactoring come up in computer science education and literature quite often. Some schools even have entire courses dedicated to refactoring and improving code. I myself found this Wikipedia page when searching for a concise, elegant definition of refactoring. This is a very different concept than simply rewriting a program. When rewriting code, it is expected that the behavior will change. When refactoring code, it is expected that it will not.
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