Rubber duck debugging

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A rubber duck in use by a developer to aid debugging Rubber duck assisting with debugging.jpg
A rubber duck in use by a developer to aid debugging

Rubber duck debugging (or rubberducking) is a debugging technique in software engineering. A programmer explains their code, step by step, in natural language - either aloud or in writing - to reveal mistakes and misunderstandings.

Contents

The name is a reference to a story in the book The Pragmatic Programmer . It tells a story of a developer who carried a rubber duck who explained their code to it line by line. [1] Variations of the practice use other objects or even pets; teddy bears are especially common. [2] [3]

Approach

Programmers often discover solutions while explaining a problem to someone else, even to people with no programming knowledge. Describing the code, and comparing to what it actually does, exposes inconsistencies. [4] Explaining a subject also forces the programmer to look at it from new perspectives and can provide a deeper understanding. [5]

The programmer explaining their solution to an inanimate object (such as a rubber duck) does not have to interrupt others. It also works better than thinking aloud without an audience. [6] This approach has been taught in computer science and software engineering courses. [7] [8]

On 1 April 2018, Stack Exchange launched an April Fools' Day joke called Quack Overflow. A rubber duck avatar appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen, listened to user problems, and pretended to type solutions, only to respond with a simple "quack" sound. It referenced rubber ducking as a powerful method for solving problems. [9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hunt, Andrew; Thomas, David (1999). The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master . Addison Wesley. ISBN   978-0201616224. p. 95, footnote.
  2. ↑ Debugging, Rubber Duck. "Rubber Duck Debugging". rubberduckdebugging.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Boswell, Dustin; Foucher, Trevor (2011). The Art of Readable Code: Simple and Practical Techiques for Writing Better Code. O'Reilly and Associates. p. 137. ISBN   978-0596802295.
  4. ↑ Baker, SJ, The Contribution of the Cardboard Cutout Dog to Software Reliability and Maintainability, archived from the original on 5 October 2013, retrieved 9 February 2011.
  5. ↑ Hayes, David (25 June 2014). "The Psychology Underlying the Power of Rubber Duck Debugging". Press Up via Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Byrd, Nick; Joseph, Brianna; Gongora, Gabriela; Sirota, Miroslav (2023). "Tell Us What You Really Think: A Think Aloud Protocol Analysis of the Verbal Cognitive Reflection Test". Journal of Intelligence. 11 (4): 76. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence11040076 . PMC   10146599 . PMID   37103261.
  7. ↑ Attwood, Jeff (2012). "Rubber Duck Problem Solving". codinghorror.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  8. ↑ Malan, David (2020). "Rubber Duck Debugging in CS50 IDE". noticeable.news.
  9. ↑ "Stack Exchange has been taken over by a rubber duck!". Meta Stack Exchange. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
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