Equalization two complicated objects in java (two objects that are made from other object)

Question

Let's say you have this piece of code in java: Contact is made from name and number, and PhoneBook from an array of Contacts.

//set -> Does this method really copies and creating new memory place or just pointing to the memory?

public void setContact(Contact[] contact)
{
    this.contact =  contact; // <----this
}

Thanks.

Answer 1

Arrays are objects, and object references are passed by value in Java. So calling this method makes this.contact be a copy of the reference to the contact array passed as argument. No copy of the array elements is made. No copy of the array is made.