[jvanderbot]

The real gem of the article is the interlude. E.g., reaching back to C days and pointing out that "It's either copy, or pointer". Once someone has that mental model solidly in hand, all the syntax sugar in the world cannot harm you.

Also "It was an ergonomic advancement." hides a lot of the overwrought syntax sugar in C++ that causes it to be such a weird language if you come from elsewhere. But still an excellent insight into the state of affairs.

I think the "Apparently" language makes it seem like this is some kind of accident that nobody would know about, when really the author was probably just being a creative writer, and the example was fundamental to the post.