Coding-mindset Memes

Someone innocently asks for the salt at dinner, and the programmer's brain immediately goes into technical specification mode. "Do you want me to hand you the salt shaker itself, or just point to where it is so you can grab it yourself?" Pass-by-value means you get a copy of the salt (the actual shaker), while pass-by-reference means you get directions to the salt's memory address on the table. The poor person just wanted to season their food, but now they're stuck in a function parameter debate. We literally cannot turn off the optimization brain. Even at dinner. Especially at dinner. The worst part? We genuinely think we're being helpful by asking for clarification.