Patricia Shanahan wrote:
printdude1968@gmail.com wrote:
String s = 'hello';
s += 'good-bye';
s is not a String object, it is a reference variable that can either be
null or point to a String object.
The += changes s from pointing to the "hello" String object to instead
point to a String object with value "hello"+"good-bye". It does not
change the "hello" object.
String s = "hello";
String x = s;
s += "good-bye";
Yup. To clarify just a bit more, in your original example, the original
object "hello" is tossed away. There's no reference to it, so it's just
left on the heap, and it'll be garbage-collect later. In Patricia's
example, there's a reference to "hello" retained in x, so this time the
"hello" object will stick around, and it's usable later, like for
printing out.