What does "idempotent" mean in programming?
idempotent 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
An operation that produces the same result whether it is executed once or many times. In HTTP, GET, PUT, and DELETE are idempotent; POST is not. Idempotency is critical for retry logic: if a request fails, you can safely retry an idempotent operation without causing duplicates.
Example
"Make the payment endpoint idempotent using an idempotency key, so retries after a timeout do not charge the user twice."
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