Using a Class variable in a method/function creates a reference to the source not duplicates it?

Question

I'm asking if I create a Custom Class object with say 100 integer values in it.

If I were to pass that variable into a method that contains and object of the same type I am only passing a refernce to the source object, I'm not making a duplicate of those 100's of variables, right?

  class BigClass {
    int A;
    int B;
    ...
  }

   BigClass ThisClass = new BigClass();


   private void DoSomething(BigClass b) {
          BigClass ThatClass = b; 
   }


   **************

   DoSomething(ThisClass);

[This](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40480/is-java-pass-by-reference) may interest you. — Pshemo, Jul 26 '12 at 20:05

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 26 '12 at 19:59

2

Correct, just the reference to the instance of your class will get passed/copied. The actual guts of your class will not be copied.

See Jon Skeet's article about parameter passing in Java, it does a good job of explaining things.

answered Jul 26 '12 at 19:59

wsanville

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Thank you for no "mumbo jumbo" :) – GideonKain Jul 27 '12 at 01:14

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '12 at 19:59

0

That is correct. When you pass objects to another class, you are simply passing a reference to it.

answered Jul 26 '12 at 19:59

Tim

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Using a Class variable in a method/function creates a reference to the source not duplicates it?

2 Answers2