Java Pass by Value or Pass by Reference
Java always passes arguments by value, NOT by reference.
I will explain this in steps:
Declaring a reference named
f
of typeFoo
and assign it a new object of typeFoo
with an attribute"f"
.From the method side, a reference of type
Foo
with a namea
is declared and it's initially assignednull
.As you call the method
changeReference
, the referencea
will be assigned the object which is passed as an argument.Declaring a reference named
b
of typeFoo
and assign it a new object of typeFoo
with an attribute"b"
.a = b
makes a new assignment to the referencea
, notf
, of the object whose attribute is"b"
.As you call
modifyReference(Foo c)
method, a referencec
is created and assigned the object with attribute"f"
.c.setAttribute("c");
will change the attribute of the object that referencec
points to it, and it's the same object that referencef
points to it.
I hope you understand now how passing objects as arguments works in Java 🎉
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