The DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle is often misapplied in software development. Copying code can actually be beneficial for maintaining momentum, discovering the right abstractions naturally, anThed avoiding premature optimization. Wrong abstractions are harder to remove than duplicated code and create mental overhead through multiple layers of indirection. The key is separating writing mode from refactoring mode, allowing duplication initially, and cleaning up once you understand the problem better. Sometimes similar-looking code serves different purposes and should remain separate to preserve context and enable independent evolution.