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

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

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

Can you give me an example of a shallow copy?

Sure! In Python, you can use the copy() method on a list to create a shallow copy. For example: original_list = [1, 2, [3, 4]]; shallow_copied_list = original_list.copy().

And how about a deep copy?

For a deep copy in Python, you can use the copy module's deepcopy() function. For example: import copy; deep_copied_list = copy.deepcopy(original_list).

What are the implications of using shallow vs deep copy?

Using shallow copy can lead to unintended side effects since changes to mutable objects in the copied list will affect the original. Deep copy avoids this issue by creating independent copies.