aka Value types vs Reference types

Thanks Eric, I’m never going to get another job.

If you are employed in the C# world, then you’ve been through an interview process. I think I have a better chance of becoming a millionaire by betting everybody that has a C# job £10 that they were asked the difference between value types and reference types as an interview question, than by winning the lottery. It is one of the de-facto questions that you ask as an interviewer and expect to be asked as a candidate. The answer that people want to hear is simple,

Value types go on the stack, Reference types go on the heap.

Except that is wrong according to that man who knows. Don’t believe me, go read The Truth About Value Types.

The dilemma

So here’s the problem, do I tell people what they want to hear or what I now know is correct? Can I interrupt an interview and ask if they read Eric Lippert’s Fabulous adventures in coding, before I answer the next question?

I think from now on, I’m damned. Now I know the truth there is no way I can keep quiet, I’m not that kind of person. Then again, who likes being corrected in an interview?

Thanks Eric, I’m never going to pass another interview.