Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY)

• It usually means refactoring code by taking something done several times and turning it into a loop or a function
  • DRY code is easy to change, because you only have to make any change in one place
• Easy to change doesn’t just mean clean code
  • if you can’t figure out what a variable is for or what a function does based on its name
    • then it’s harder to change it later, when you might not remember exactly how your code works
      • or when somebody else is trying to change your code
• Using descriptive variable names make it easier to understand what the variable contains and in turn make it easier to use or change later on
• A good starting naming convention for your variables and functions would be:
  • singular words for variables containing values
    • i.e: fruit, firstName, favoriteColor
  • plural words for variables containing objects or arrays
    • i.e: fruits, names, myColors
  • a description for variables containing functions
    • ie: logFruits, findPerson, getFavoriteColor
• Conclusion
  • Whenever you finish writing some code, you should always look back to see if there is any way you can DRY it up, including:
    • using descriptive variable names
    • taking repetitive bits of code
    • extracting them into a function or loop