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Asked: 2026-05-13T18:05:21+00:00

In a recent code review I spotted a few lines of duplicated logic in

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In a recent code review I spotted a few lines of duplicated logic in a class (less than 15 lines). When I suggested that the author refactor the code, he argued that the code is simpler to understand that way. After reading the code again, I have to agree extracting the duplicated logic would hurt readability a little.

I know DRY is guideline, not an absolute rule. But in general, are you willing to hurt readability in the name of DRY?

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  1. Editorial Team

    Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code

    The Rule of Three

    The first time you do something, you just do it. The second time you do something similar, you wince at the duplication, but you do the duplicate thing anyway. The third time you do something similar, you refactor.

    Three strikes and you refactor.

    Coders at Work

    Seibel: So for each of these XII calls you’re writing an implementation. Did you ever find that you were accumulating lots of bits of very similar code?

    Zawinski: Oh, yeah, definitely. Usually by the second or third time you’ve cut and pasted that piece of code it’s like, alright, time to stop cutting and pasting and put it in a subroutine.

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