What does code refactoring aim to improve?

Code refactoring is a practice in software development focused on restructuring existing computer code without altering its external behavior. This means that the functionality of the software remains the same while the internal structure is improved. The primary goals of refactoring include enhancing code readability, reducing complexity, improving maintainability, and making the code easier to understand for developers. By doing so, refactoring helps in identifying bugs more easily and allows future development to be done more efficiently.

Improving code quality encompasses aspects such as increasing modularity, enhancing naming conventions, eliminating redundant code, and adopting more efficient coding patterns. Although aspects like memory usage, execution speed, and user interface design might be indirectly affected by better-structured code, refining these areas is not the primary focus of refactoring. Instead, the emphasis is squarely on improving the underlying code quality while maintaining the same functionality available to the end user.