Is there a story behind the name ''duck typing'', I've heard ''if it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, let's call it a duck'' (or something like that), but why a duck? Why not ``if it looks like a _ and sounds like a _, let's call it a _''.
It sounds like a Flying Circus sketch, but I don't remember it. Is there a story behind the name?
Duck typing is a phrase borrowed from the much older "walk like a duck". The latter has been around far longer than the programming idea it describes. See answerbag.com
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/e230ca916be58835?hl=en&
Alex is involved... ;)
This is not really a programming question, but my guess: Ducks walk funny and they quack. This is amusing enough to turn it into a figure of speech. :-)
No, the analogy is that if a variable looks like an integer (for example), and acts as an integer, it must be an integer (type).
Duck typing means 'no explicit predeclaraction of type'.