Editing Late binding (section)

==History==
The term "late binding" dates back to at least the 1960s, where it can be found in ''[[Communications of the ACM]]''. The term was widely used to describe calling conventions in languages like Lisp, though usually with negative connotations about performance.<ref>Software engineering techniques, J. N. Buxton, [[Brian Randell]], NATO Science Committee, NATO Science Committee, 1970</ref>

In the 1980s [[Smalltalk]] popularized [[object-oriented programming]] (OOP) and with it late binding. [[Alan Kay]] once said, "OOP to me means only messaging, local retention, and protection and hiding of state-process, and extreme late-binding of all things. It can be done in Smalltalk and in LISP. There are possibly other systems in which this is possible, but I'm not aware of them."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.purl.org/stefan_ram/pub/doc_kay_oop_en |title=Dr. Alan Kay on the Meaning of "Object-Oriented Programming" |publisher=Purl.org |date= 23 July 2003|accessdate=2013-08-16}}</ref>

In the early to mid-1990s, Microsoft heavily promoted its COM standard as a binary interface between different OOP programming languages. COM programming equally promoted early and late binding, with many languages supporting both at the syntax level.

In 2000, [[Alex Martelli]] coined the term "[[duck typing]]" to refer to a similar concept, but with a different emphasis. While late binding generally focuses on implementation details, duck typing focuses on the ability to ignore types and concentrate on the methods an object currently has.