Question

is declaring/initializing primitives the same as creating new objects? from what i know when we create primitives, we also creating wrapper classes for them. im implementing on java btw.

Answer 1

No, assigning primitive values does not create any objects.

What you might be referring to is the fact that primitive values can be auto-boxed into the corresponding wrappers, when they are used in a context where a reference type (a.k.a “an object”) is required:

int i = 13;     // this line does not create an object
Integer i2 = i; // at this line 13 is auto-boxed into an Integer object

char c = 'x';   // again: no object created:
List<Character> l = new ArrayList<Character>();
l.add(c);       // c is auto-boxed into a Character object

Also, I’ll try to describe the difference between declare and initialize:

int i;          // an int-variable is declared
int j = 0;      // an int-variable is declared and initialized
i = 1;          // an int-variable is assigned a value, this is *not* initialization

A variable is “declared” when it is created for the first time (i.e. you specify the type and name of the variable). It is initialized when it’s assigned a value during declaration.