What is refactoring and what is only modifying code?

Question

I know that refactoring is \"changing the structure of a program so that the functionality is not changed\". I was talking with some of the guys I\'m working with on my fina

Answer 1

With Martin Fowler's definition in mind,

Refactoring is a disciplined technique for restructuring an existing body of code, altering its internal structure without changing its external behavior.

... I think you are clearly right.

They also suggested things like changing data structures (like a Java LinkedList to an ArrayList), changing algorithms (using merge sort instead of bubble sort), and even rewriting large chunks of code as refactoring.

Changing an algorithm to something much faster is obviously not refactoring, because external behaviour is changed! (Then again, if the effect is never noticeable, perhaps you could call it refactoring after all - and also premature optimisation. :-)

This is a pet peeve of mine; it's annoying when people use the term sloppily - I've even come across some who might casually use refactoring for basically any kind of change or fix. Yeah, it's a hip and cool buzzword and all, but there's nothing wrong with plain old terms like change, rewrite or performance improvement. We should use those when appropriate, and reserve refactoring for cases when you are truly just improving the internal structure of your software. Within a development team, especially, having a common language for accurately discussing your work does matter.