Essential Coding Principles on Abhyuday Pundir

DRY

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:25:09 +0530

“Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system.” referenced by The Pragmatic Programmer.

DRY is more than code. Here’s the acid test: when some single facet of the code has to change, do you find yourself making that change in multiple places, and in multiple different formats? Do you have to change code and documentation, or a database schema and a structure that holds it, or…? If so, your code isn’t DRY.

ETC

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:03:11 +0530

As quoted in the book of The Pragmatic Programmer, “Good design is easier to change than bad design”.

The book also mentions that ETC is a value and NOT a rule. Values are things that help you make decisions: should I do this, or that? When it comes to thinking about software, ETC is a guide, helping you choose between paths. Just like all your other values, it should be floating just behind your conscious thought, subtly nudging you in the right direction.