Code Rewrite vs Code Refactoring. Choosing the Best Code Transformation Tactics

Implementing a perfect software solution on the first try is impossible. At some point, developers may start suspecting their codebase is a complete mess and doesn't correspond to what they had in their heads at the beginning of the project. It happens often and sometimes forces developers to make urgent code adjustments even before the product is launched, and users begin to find undetected bugs. As Fred Brooks wrote in The Mythical Man-Month, "The management question, therefore, is not whether to build a pilot system and throw it away. You will do that." It's not an action guide but rather a metaphor that nevertheless gives some clues about the state of affairs in the software development industry.

After the launch, the situation doesn't usually improve in the long run. Technical debt, obsolescence of initially used technologies and techniques, and other factors make code changes unavoidable. Here, developers have multiple options for getting the job done, but the choice is often between rewriting the code from scratch and refactoring it.