What does DRY stand for?

• A. Don't Repeat Yourself.
• B. Do Rebuild Yourself.
• C. Don't Recode Yourself.
• D. Drive Reuse Yourself.

Answer: (A)

DRY is a principle in software development that aims to avoid duplication. It stands for Don't Repeat Yourself, encouraging you to factor out repeated logic into a single place—like a function, method, or module—and reuse it from multiple locations. This reduces the risk of inconsistencies and makes maintenance easier: if the shared logic needs to change, you update it once rather than in many copies. For example, if the same data validation appears in several forms, a single validator function keeps the rules consistent across the app. Of course, balance matters; not every repetition needs to be eliminated—sometimes a small, clear duplicate is better than over-complicating the design—but the goal is to minimize unnecessary repetition by promoting reuse. The other phrases don’t capture this idea of avoiding duplication and reuse; they’re not the standard way to express the principle.