Java Glossary : parameters

Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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parameters: parameters are always passed by value not by reference. The called method gets a copy of each primitive and a copy of the pointer to each object. The called method can therefore not change any local variables in the caller. However it can change the contents of objects (which includes strings and arrays) passed to it. Some people may argue that counts as call by reference, however a callee cannot make the callers variables point to different objects, just change the contents of objects. Objects are always accessed by reference, (literally via a reference) even when parameters are not involved. You can kludge call by reference by passing values back to your caller inside an array or by returning a freshly minted object full of values.
callback ¤ delegate ¤ reference

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