[Kranar]

Words do have different meanings depending on context and a host of facts, and you are entitled to have some interpretation of the word passion but in its most literal and original sense, passion means to act in suffering. That is, you act out of such a desire towards something that you suffer and sacrifice yourself in the process, ie. The Passion of Jesus.

It also has a romantic sense to it, for example you are passionately in love if you suffer for that love and would sacrifice yourself for it. You are passionate about something if you're willing to die for it. That is, your feelings about something are so intense that you are willing to endure suffering and pain for it. A programmer is passionate if they devote themselves to it to the point that they end up sacrificing other parts of their life in the process.

I am passionate about programming in that sense, for better or worse, and have knowingly sacrificed a great deal in pursuit of this skill and have lost out in many other areas of my life because of it. I am not ashamed to admit it anymore than a Medical Doctor is ashamed to admit that they must also sacrifice a great deal of their life to pursue their career path, doctors are also passionate about their career.

It would be hard to claim that you are passionate about something without admitting to sacrificing or risking something in pursuit of that passion or feeling pain about it such as burning out or struggling to the point of feeling exhausted, even depressed in some cases. It does not mean doing something out of fun or joy or leisure, it means doing something in spite of the pain often because you believe in it so strongly that you put aside feelings of joy.

That said, there are certainly very competent developers who are incredibly productive and aren't passionate about it, and as you said it may even be the case that people who do programming for fun end up being productive because it's fun for them and that helps keep them motivated. That's amazing and I admire such people... but that's not being passionate in its most common usage, passion kind of has a fairly common meaning and the author is using it appropriately.

[capitalistLove]

I have honestly never thought of the word passion in those terms. To me, it has always been an intensley positive word with connotations of love and wellbeing - but I can see how someone could go through life with your definition and have every instance of the word passion make sense, but mean something different than it means to me, and also simultaneously make sense to me.