Tech Jargon Defined: What is Rubber Ducking?

#discuss #programming #codenewbie

This is part of a Tech Jargon Defined series focused on de-mystifying common tech jargon terms.

'Rubber ducking' is one of the more endearing denominalizations in the tech atmosphere.

What does it mean? Simply put, it refers to the practice of using an inanimate object as your audience to talk through a problem. It's not uncommon for developers to house real rubber ducks at their desks to remind themselves to do this.

Developers might also refer to themselves as rubber ducks when they're lending an ear to a co-worker with a problem to solve. For example, let's imagine a Slack conversation:

Teammate #1: "Whenever I run this command I get a TypeError... wait! there's a side-effect in my function! Thanks, Teammate #2!"

Teammate #2: "🦆"

Resource: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-rubber-duck-debugging/

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