[jonnycat]

Refactoring code is a continuum, from "let's do nothing" (0%) to let's rewrite the whole damn thing" (100%). There's a whole spectrum in between.

While I'm a "never say never" kind of guy, I do think many well-intentioned engineers make a leap to the 100% solution too easily. There are lots of other tools in the toolbox that can de-risk the process, like becoming more service oriented, implementing facade patterns, etc., which all in some way or another work towards a "rewrite" usually without ever rewriting everything.

Sometimes you get the benefits of the 100% solution with 25% of the work, and without most of the risk. "Yeah, that part of the codebase is old and crufty, but we never have to touch it because it Just Works and there's no point in rewriting it."

[insertnickname]

Refactoring is different from rewriting.

[perl4ever]

I think the above implies that it is different, because it is a subset?