A lot of novice cooks I know will fully cook their pasta, strain it, and get it pretty dry before putting sauce on. The starchy pasta water is actually a "glue"

A lot of novice cooks I know will fully cook their pasta, strain it, and get it pretty dry before putting sauce on. The starchy pasta water is actually a "glue" that helps adhere the sauce to the pasta. If you leave your pasta a bit wet before saucing, you get better adhesion by a lot, and it's even better if you cook the pasta (and pasta water) into the sauce to release more starches into the sauce.