What is the difference between shallow and deep copy in programming?

What is the difference between shallow and deep copy in programming?

Shallow copy creates a new object but inserts references into it to the objects found in the original. Deep copy creates a new object and recursively copies all objects found in the original.

Can you explain the performance implications of using shallow vs deep copy?

Sure! Shallow copy is generally faster because it only copies references, while deep copy can be slower due to the need to copy all nested objects.

In what scenarios would I prefer one over the other?

You might prefer shallow copy when you only need a new object with the same references, and deep copy when you need a completely independent object.

Are there any libraries in Python that can help with deep copying?

Yes, in Python, you can use the copy module, which provides a deepcopy() function for creating deep copies.