Programming Principles in the Age of AI: DRY
Summary
The article revisits the DRY principle in the age of AI-assisted development, reframing it as a knowledge-duplication problem rather than pure code duplication. It argues that AI can track and synchronize relevant duplicates, but finite context windows require conscious, visibility-driven duplication and careful evaluation of when to abstract. Practical guidance includes asking whether a shared abstraction reflects a genuine business concept and recognizing context limitations in microservice ecosystems.