An alias or alternative name for an existing variable that provides direct access to the same memory location. References allow multiple names to refer to the same data without copying it, enabling efficient parameter passing and data sharing.
From Latin 'referre' meaning to carry back or relate to. Academic and literary contexts used it to describe citations or allusions to other works. Programming adopted the term in the 1980s to describe variables that 'refer to' or alias existing data, maintaining the concept of pointing to something else.
References are like nicknames - whether you call someone 'Robert' or 'Bob,' you're talking about the same person! When you change Bob's hair color, Robert's hair color changes too because they're the same person. References let you access the same data through different names.
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