Which came first? Although this technique must stretch back into antiquity. It's kind of a trope in movies and books with scientists / inventors. Watson sometimes was Sherlock's rubber duck / cutout dog.
In fiction (and film particularly) these sorts of characters are often a narrative device so that things can be explained without needing an omniscient narrator.
> Jake served as our key code review expert for many years (Dog Years that is) - but finally was lost to the organisation when he starved to death during an especially complete checkout of the Transaction Interchange Manager's Scheduling Algorithm.
Should I take this sentence literally or is the checkout —or for that matter, Jake’s starvation — metaphorical?
I admire your empathy for the dog, I love animals too! From the ironic tone of the rest of the article, I feel confident that Jake the Labrador is fictional. “No animals were injured in the making of this satire.”
But what about the sex toys? Did the author really have a dangling pointer? I think more research is required, after all the field has advanced somewhat since that was written
Should I take this sentence literally or is the checkout —or for that matter, Jake’s starvation — metaphorical?