SHALLOW COPY Meaning and
Definition
-
A shallow copy refers to the process of creating a new object or data structure that contains references to the original data elements. In other words, a shallow copy duplicates the object but not its contained elements.
When performing a shallow copy, a new object is created, and all the member variables are copied from the original object to the new object. However, the member variables that are references to other objects only copy the references, not the objects themselves. As a result, both the original object and the copied object will point to the same memory locations for those referenced objects.
This means that any modifications made to the referenced objects in either the original or the copied object will affect both objects. This is because they share the same underlying data elements.
In the context of programming, making a shallow copy is a useful technique when speed and memory consumption are concerns. It allows for efficient copying of complex data structures without duplicating the elements themselves, thereby saving time and space.
However, it is important to note that a shallow copy can lead to unintended consequences if modifications made to one copy affect the other copy unintentionally. Therefore, when a deep copy is required, where the objects and their contained elements are copied completely, a shallow copy should be avoided.
Common Misspellings for SHALLOW COPY
- ahallow copy
- zhallow copy
- xhallow copy
- dhallow copy
- ehallow copy
- whallow copy
- sgallow copy
- sballow copy
- snallow copy
- sjallow copy
- suallow copy
- syallow copy
- shzllow copy
- shsllow copy
- shwllow copy
- shqllow copy
- shaklow copy
- shaplow copy
- shaolow copy
- shalkow copy
Etymology of SHALLOW COPY
The term "shallow copy" in computer science was coined based on the concept of copying an object in a way that only the references or pointers to the original object's data are duplicated, without actually creating new copies of the data itself.
The term "shallow" refers to the notion that the copy does not go deep into the object's structure or complexity. Instead, it replicates only the top-level structure. In other words, it creates a copy that shares as much data as possible with the original object.
The alternative to a "shallow copy" is a "deep copy", which involves creating an entirely new copy of an object along with all of its internal references and data.
This approach of differentiating between "shallow" and "deep" copies originated within the programming language community to describe different strategies for object duplication.
Infographic
Add the infographic to your website:
