I disagree slightly; I think there’s an important thing here which was a little bit glossed over in the article.
The original code established a pattern and left space for where and how to add code to handle edge cases, when they arose, whereas the clean code solution was implemented as though it was the complete and final solution.
A first draft is often incomplete, and in an oversimplified first draft, it’s easy to pull out patterns and remove “duplication” which is a result of the simplification, not an inherent feature of the problem being solved.
The original code established a pattern and left space for where and how to add code to handle edge cases, when they arose, whereas the clean code solution was implemented as though it was the complete and final solution.
A first draft is often incomplete, and in an oversimplified first draft, it’s easy to pull out patterns and remove “duplication” which is a result of the simplification, not an inherent feature of the problem being solved.