Part of the problem is conceptualizing this as a reference (which, admittedly, it is without optimization).
Instead, this is a borrow which indicates that the callee will not mutate the argument. It makes more sense in this context.
Instead, this is a borrow which indicates that the callee will not mutate the argument. It makes more sense in this context.
Isn't that also the official name of the feature in Rust? Isn't &T in Rust pronounced "reference to T" and "&mut T" pronounced "mutable reference to T"? That is the impression I get from: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch04-02-references-and-borrow...
Your parent is suggesting to not think of it in such a low-level way, and instead think of it as a permission. In this case, the pointer being optimized away makes more sense, as it’s not really about it being a pointer.
I’m of two minds about it, to be honest.
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Programming-Language-Steve-Klabn...
Rust is all about ownership, and `&` means "don't free() this".