Pass by Reference & Pass by Value
In Java, everything is passed by value, including object references. When you pass an object x to a method, you are passing a copy of the reference to the object, not the actual object itself. This means:
1. If you modify the object via the reference (e.g., x.setName(“newName”);), the changes will affect the original object because both the original reference and the copied reference point to the same object in memory.
2. If you reassign the reference inside the method (e.g., x = y;), the reassignment only affects the copy of the reference. The original reference outside the method remains unchanged.