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Software Engineering vocabulary · Code Review and Code Quality

DRY

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/draɪ/abbreviationCommon term

In software engineering, DRY means: Short for 'Don't Repeat Yourself': the principle that each piece of knowledge or logic should exist in one place in the code instead of being copied around.

In Turkish: kendini tekrar etme ilkesi, tekrardan kaçınma ilkesi

How it is used

Pronounced like the word 'dry'. Reviewers write 'Let's DRY this up' or 'This isn't very DRY'. Applied too early, it can create the wrong abstraction, so some developers wait until code is repeated three times (the 'rule of three').

Example sentences

  1. The same validation appears in four controllers; let's DRY it up with a shared helper.

  2. Keeping code DRY is good, but don't merge two functions that only look similar by accident.

Common collocations

  • DRY principle
  • DRY it up
  • keep it DRY
  • not very DRY
  • refactorTo improve the structure of existing code, making it cleaner or easier to change, without changing what it does for the user.
  • clean codeCode that is simple, clearly named, well organized and easy for others to read, test and change, rather than code that only works.
  • abstractionHiding complex details behind a simpler interface, so you can use something without knowing how it works inside, like calling save() without knowing the database query.
  • code smellA sign in code that suggests a deeper design problem, such as a very long function, duplicated logic or too many parameters, even if the code works.

More terms: Code Review and Code Quality

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