Python 3: From Beginner to Advanced/

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References

References

In this lesson, you'll learn about the concept of references in Python.

We'll cover the following...

Simple values and complex objects

In a technical sense, every value in Python is an object. In practice, there is a distinction between simple values and more complex objects. Numbers and Booleans can be considered simple values.

Let’s say, we have two values: a and b. If the value in variable a is simple, and you execute the assignment b = a, the value is copied from a into b. You can subsequently change the value in either a or b without affecting the value in the other variable.

However, consider the following scenario:

Python 3.5
a = [1, 2, 3]
b = a
b[1] = 99
print(a)  # prints [1, 99, 3]

In this example, a is a list, and lists are a kind of object. This list ...