"Clean code" book question: refactoring always?

[Rogerio Kioshi]

Hi,

Many times we get some application whose code is not very well written, but the application is working fine.
Do you think is it a waste of time refactoring something like this, if the whole application was written in a way you consider not so clean?

Thank you.

[Alaa Nassef]

IMHO, if you have the time, ALWAYS refactor. You would certainly be in the situation where you need to maintain that code, and then you will be in deep S***

[Ilja Preuss]

My rule of thumb is (and I think I learned that at least partly from Uncle Bob) that code that I touch should be in a better shape when I'm finished with it then it was before.

Refactoring code that I don't need to touch, or making the code "perfect" immediately can be fun, but often isn't viable economically, and sometimes even risky.

[Robert Martin]

Originally posted by Rogerio Kioshi:
Hi,

Many times we get some application whose code is not very well written, but the application is working fine.
Do you think is it a waste of time refactoring something like this, if the whole application was written in a way you consider not so clean?

Thank you.

It is not a waste of time to refactor ugly code. You don't want to turn that refactoring into a whole project of it's own however. Rather, every time you touch that code, you should clean a little bit of it. Every time you check it in, make sure it's cleaner than when you checked it out. (This is the "Boy Scout Rule").