Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
noun
The practice in which a programmer attempts to solve a bug by explaining their code to an inanimate object, such as a rubber duck.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: confessional debugging
History
From a story in the book The Pragmatic Programmer (1999).
