When passing objects as parameters, are they passed by reference?

Question

Is there any performance implications if I do either of these:

def do_something(user, article)
...
end

versus

def do_someth         


        

Answer 1

Yes

Both method calls will take about the same amount of time.

(It's good to be aware of performance consequences and you asked a reasonable question, but even so, the standard disclaimer¹ about early optimization technically applies.)

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^{1. First, make program work. Then, profile. Finally, and maybe, optimize.
Donald Knuth said: We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.}