A counterpoint to this is that the very reason to refactor code usually is that it isn't understandable anymore. I'd rather read it in the way that you shouldn'

A counterpoint to this is that the very reason to refactor code usually is that it isn't understandable anymore. I'd rather read it in the way that you shouldn't rewrite code for which you don't understand the problem it's trying to solve. In my experience, that part is usually much easier, since you're working in hindsight. There's a great interview Peter Seibel did with Bernie Cosell[1], where Cosell explains that his approach to debugging usually consisted in a) understanding what a specific piece of code is supposed to do and b) rewriting it so it actually would do it properly. Of course there's much to be said on when this approach is overkill and when it isn't. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coders_at_work https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coders_at_work