Question

I know that java is return by value not by reference, so it makes a copy of the object and passes the new copy. Is this is the case with the return statements also?
Does the

return obj;

creates a new object copy or simply returns the current object itself.

Answer 1

No, this is a wrong assumption. It’s true that Java passes everything by value, but this means the following:

• Scalar variables contain values, so you can easily see that they are passed by value.

• Object variables, on the other hand, do not contain objects. You could think of them as containing a pseudo-address to an object. That pseudo-address is copied (by value), but it still points to the same object. (Objects are actually created only using a new expression.)

The above is true (for both types of variables) for assignments, arguments and return values.