DRY principle

E97054

software development principle software engineering guideline

The DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle is a software development guideline that emphasizes reducing repetition by centralizing logic and data to improve maintainability and reduce errors.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

AI illustration

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
DRY principle canonical	3
DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)	1
Don’t Repeat Yourself	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T816282 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: DRY principle
Context triple: [Django, designGoal, DRY principle]

A. Occam's razor
Occam's razor is a philosophical and scientific principle that advises preferring the simplest explanation that adequately accounts for all observed facts.
B. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship is a highly influential software engineering book by Robert C. Martin that teaches principles and practices for writing readable, maintainable, and high-quality code.
C. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
"Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" is a seminal software engineering book by Martin Fowler that systematically defines refactoring techniques to improve code structure while preserving behavior.
D. The Pragmatic Programmer
The Pragmatic Programmer is a highly influential software development book that offers practical advice, best practices, and philosophical guidance for writing maintainable, high-quality code and growing as a professional programmer.
E. Working Effectively with Legacy Code
Working Effectively with Legacy Code is a widely respected software engineering book by Michael Feathers that teaches practical techniques for understanding, testing, and safely modifying existing codebases.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: DRY principle
Target entity description: The DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle is a software development guideline that emphasizes reducing repetition by centralizing logic and data to improve maintainability and reduce errors.

A. Occam's razor
Occam's razor is a philosophical and scientific principle that advises preferring the simplest explanation that adequately accounts for all observed facts.
B. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship is a highly influential software engineering book by Robert C. Martin that teaches principles and practices for writing readable, maintainable, and high-quality code.
C. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
"Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" is a seminal software engineering book by Martin Fowler that systematically defines refactoring techniques to improve code structure while preserving behavior.
D. The Pragmatic Programmer
The Pragmatic Programmer is a highly influential software development book that offers practical advice, best practices, and philosophical guidance for writing maintainable, high-quality code and growing as a professional programmer.
E. Working Effectively with Legacy Code
Working Effectively with Legacy Code is a widely respected software engineering book by Michael Feathers that teaches practical techniques for understanding, testing, and safely modifying existing codebases.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	software development principle ⓘ software engineering guideline ⓘ
abbreviation	DRY ⓘ
aimsTo	improve consistency ⓘ improve maintainability ⓘ reduce errors ⓘ simplify changes ⓘ
appliesTo	build scripts ⓘ configuration management ⓘ database schemas ⓘ documentation ⓘ source code ⓘ test cases ⓘ
canBeViolatedBy	copy-paste programming ⓘ duplicated business rules ⓘ duplicated configuration values ⓘ
canLeadTo	over-abstraction if misapplied ⓘ
contrastedWith	WET code ⓘ shotgun surgery ⓘ
encourages	abstraction ⓘ centralizing business logic ⓘ centralizing configuration ⓘ centralizing validation rules ⓘ modular design ⓘ reuse of code ⓘ single source of truth ⓘ
focusesOn	reducing duplication of code ⓘ reducing duplication of data ⓘ reducing duplication of logic ⓘ
fullName	Don’t Repeat Yourself ⓘ linked to: DRY principle
helpsWith	avoiding divergence of duplicated logic ⓘ improving readability ⓘ improving testability ⓘ reducing bug surface area ⓘ reducing maintenance cost ⓘ
isMentionedIn	software engineering literature ⓘ
isUsedIn	API design ⓘ functional programming ⓘ object-oriented programming ⓘ procedural programming ⓘ web application development ⓘ
originatedIn	software engineering community ⓘ
relatedTo	KISS principle ⓘ Single Responsibility Principle ⓘ YAGNI principle ⓘ code reuse ⓘ refactoring ⓘ
supports	clean architecture ⓘ domain-driven design ⓘ layered architecture ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Django → designGoal → DRY principle ⓘ

The Pragmatic Programmer → hasConcept → DRY principle ⓘ

DRY principle → fullName → Don’t Repeat Yourself ⓘ

linked to: DRY principle

David Thomas → notableConcept → DRY principle ⓘ

Ruby on Rails → designPhilosophy → DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) ⓘ

subject linked to: RoR