Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Referencing objects with aliases means using multiple names to refer to the same object in computer programming. This allows us to access and modify an object through different variables.
Related terms
Object Reference: An object reference is a variable that holds the memory address of an object rather than its actual value.
Shallow Copy vs Deep Copy: Shallow copy creates a new reference pointing to the original data, while deep copy creates a completely independent copy of an object.
Garbage Collection: Garbage collection is an automatic process in programming languages where unused objects are identified and removed from memory automatically.