DRY vs WET

DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)

DRY is a principle that encourages avoiding duplication of code or logic. If something is repeated in multiple places, it should be abstracted into a single place (function, module, class, etc.).

• Reduce redundancy
• Make maintenance easier
• Avoid bugs that happen due to inconsistent updates

// NOT DRY
console.log("Hello, Alice!");
console.log("Hello, Bob!");
console.log("Hello, Charlie!");

// DRY version
function greet(name) {
  console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);
}

greet("Alice");
greet("Bob");
greet("Charlie");

Now if we want to change the greeting, we only change it in one place.

WET (Write Everything Twice / We Enjoy Typing)

WET is the opposite of DRY. It’s when code is duplicated instead of abstracted. Sometimes people use WET intentionally for simplicity, or because over-abstraction can make code harder to read.

console.log("Hello, Alice!");
console.log("Hello, Bob!");
console.log("Hello, Charlie!");

If we want to change "Hello" to "Hi", we must update every line manually, which is error-prone.

Comparison of DRY and WET

Aspect	DRY	WET
Approach	Reuse code / abstract logic	Duplicate code
Maintenance	Easy, changes in one place	Hard, multiple changes needed
Risk of Bugs	Low	High
Example	Functions, classes, modules	Repeated print statements, copied logic