← GlossaryWas this page helpful?
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."
Can you put this sentence in the right order?
Tap the words to place them here
Keep building your technical English
You just looked up what this word means. Lingua-e turns vocabulary like this into full practice: fill-in-the-blanks, listening, and real developer conversations.
Practice this for free