When refactoring, which of these should you avoid?

Making many large changes all at once during refactoring can lead to a variety of problems. When refactoring, the goal is to improve the code's structure and readability without altering its external behavior. Making numerous substantial changes simultaneously complicates the process, making it difficult to identify which changes caused any new issues that arise.

Additionally, if problems occur, pinpointing the exact source of the bugs becomes much more complicated, which can lead to frustration and increased debugging time. This approach also violates the principle of incremental improvement, which advocates for small, manageable changes that can be easily tested and validated to ensure that existing functionality remains intact.

In contrast, running tests before and after refactoring, updating documentation to reflect changes, and using version control are all best practices that help to ensure the software's robustness and maintainability throughout the refactoring process. These practices support a smoother transition during refactoring, making it easier to verify the correctness of the modifications made.