Duck typing

Introduction

In computer programming with object-oriented programming languages, duck typing is an alternative to typing. In duck typing, an object's suitability for some purpose is determined by the presence of certain methods and properties (with appropriate meaning), rather than the actual type of the object. The name of the concept refers to the duck test, attributed to James Whitcomb Riley (see history below), which may be phrased as follows:

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.^[1]

In duck typing, a programmer is only concerned with ensuring that objects behave as demanded of them in a given context, rather than ensuring that they are of a specific type. Instead of specifying types formally, duck typing practices rely on documentation, clear code, and testing to ensure correct use.

Concept examples

Consider the following pseudo-code for a duck-typed language:

function calculate(a, b, c) => return (a+b)*c

example1 = calculate (1, 2, 3)
example2 = calculate ([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], 2)
example3 = calculate ('apples ', 'and oranges, ', 3)

print to_string example1
print to_string example2
print to_string example3

In the example, each time the calculate function is called, objects without related inheritance may be used (numbers, lists and strings). As long as the objects support the "+" and "*" methods, the operation will succeed. If translated to Ruby or Python, for example, the result of the code would be:

9
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
apples and oranges, apples and oranges, apples and oranges,

Thus, duck typing can work the same as polymorphism, but without inheritance. The only restriction that function calculate places on its arguments is that they implement the "+" and the "*" methods.

The duck test can be seen in the following example (in Python). As far as the function in_the_forest is concerned, the Person object is a duck:

class Duck:
    def quack(self):
        print("Quaaaaaack!")
    def feathers(self):
        print("The duck has white and gray feathers.")
 
class Person:
    def quack(self):
        print("The person imitates a duck.")
    def feathers(self):
        print("The person takes a feather from the ground and shows it.")
    def name(self):
        print("John Smith")
 
def in_the_forest(duck):
    duck.quack()
    duck.feathers()
 
def game():
    donald = Duck()
    john = Person()
    in_the_forest(donald)
    in_the_forest(john)
 
game()