Factoring is when you recognize a pattern in your programming that has meaning, so you make it possible to invoke the pattern more simply, making the intent of the code more obvious, reducing opportunities for error, make it possible to build more complex programs. It is not factoring if you replace a pattern with another equally complicated pattern. Factoring is why the software you make in 2023 should be more powerful than the software you did in 2013 and 2003. Factoring happens slowly, usually. Sometimes factoring happens in a moment, when you realize how to reduce something by making a small change somewhere else. Edit This Page was one of those. #