What does "DRY" mean in programming?
DRY is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.
Definition
Short for Don't Repeat Yourself. A principle stating that every piece of knowledge should have a single, authoritative representation in a system. Violating DRY creates duplication that leads to inconsistency when one copy is updated and others are not.
Example
"Extract the tax calculation into a shared function — DRY means the logic lives in one place and is fixed once."
Related terms
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