ITPEC FE Subject A October 2025 Question 39

Modifying the internal structure to improve maintainability without changing the external specifications — that is refactoring.

Refactoring rewrites code to make it cleaner, for example removing duplication, splitting long functions or renaming, while the program's observable behaviour stays exactly the same. It is a core practice of agile methods such as XP, usually backed by automated tests that confirm nothing changed from the outside.

Answer (a)

Why not others:

• •(b) — two programmers coding one program together is pair programming.
• •(c) — building an early version to get user feedback is prototyping.
• •(d) — writing test cases before the code is test-driven development (test first).

Key rule: Refactoring changes structure, never behaviour; if the external specification changes, it is new development, not refactoring.

Software Development Management Techniques · AI-written, may contain errors