can someone explain the concept of "strings (or whatever) being immutable"

[Gary Herron]

On 06/02/2014 09:39 PM, Deb Wyatt wrote:
> a_string = "This is a string"
> a_string is pointing to the above string
>
> now I change the value of a_string
> a_string = "This string is different"
> I understand that now a_string is pointing to a different string than 
> it was before, in a different location.
>
> my question is what happens to the original string??  Is it still in 
> memory somewhere, nameless?
> Thanks in advance,


Yes, possibly, for a short while it will be nameless in memory 
somewhere.  If nothing else is pointing to it, it will eventually be 
garbage collected.

Gary Herron





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