{"id":399,"date":"2014-11-18T11:40:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T06:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/?p=399"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:04:09","slug":"parameter-passing-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html","title":{"rendered":"Parameter passing techniques"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article explains about the parameter passing techniques in programming languages in general and how Java handles parameters in methods. Sample code is also provided which demonstrates the parameter passing techniques.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article is a part of our\u00a0core java tutorial for beginners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

If you have any previous programming experience you might know that most of the popular programming languages support two parameter passing techniques namely:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. pass-by-value<\/li>\n
  2. pass-by-reference<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n In pass-by-value<\/em> technique, the actual parameters in the method call are copied<\/em> to the dummy parameters in the method definition. <\/span>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So, whatever changes are performed on the dummy parameters, they are not reflected on the actual parameters as the changes you make are done to the copies and to the originals.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n In pass-by-reference <\/em>technique, reference (address) of the actual parameters are passed to the dummy parameters in the method definition. <\/span>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So, whatever changes are performed on the dummy parameters, they are reflected on the actual parameters too as both references point to same memory locations containing the original values.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    To make the concept more simple, let’s consider the following code segment which demonstrates pass-by-value<\/em>. This is a program for exchanging values in two variables:<\/p>\n

    class Swapper\n{\n\tint a;\n\tint b;\n\tSwapper(int x, int y)\n\t{\n\t\ta = x;\n\t\tb = y;\n\t}\n\tvoid swap(int x, int y)\n\t{\n\t\tint temp;\n\t\ttemp = x;\n\t\tx = y;\n\t\ty = temp;\n\t}\n}\nclass SwapDemo\n{\n\tpublic static void main(String[] args)\n\t{\n\t\tSwapper obj = new Swapper(10, 20);\n\t\tSystem.out.println("Before swapping value of a is "+obj.a+" value of b is "+obj.b);\n\t\tobj.swap(obj.a, obj.b);\n\t\tSystem.out.println("After swapping value of a is "+obj.a+" value of b is "+obj.b);\n\t}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Output of the above programming will be:<\/p>\n
    Before swapping value of a is 10 value of b is 20\nAfter swapping value of a is 10 value of b is 20<\/code><\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Although values of x<\/em> and y <\/em>are interchanged, those changes are not reflected on a<\/em> and b<\/em>. Memory representation of variables is shown in below figure:<\/p>\n
    \"Pass<\/a><\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Let’s consider the following code segment which demonstrates pass-by-reference<\/em>. This is a program for exchanging values in two variables:<\/p>\n
    class Swapper\n{\n\tint a;\n\tint b;\n\tSwapper(int x, int y)\n\t{\n\t\ta = x;\n\t\tb = y;\n\t}\n\tvoid swap(Swapper ref)\n\t{\n\t\tint temp;\n\t\ttemp = ref.a;\n\t\tref.a = ref.b;\n\t\tref.b = temp;\n\t}\n}\nclass SwapDemo\n{\n\tpublic static void main(String[] args)\n\t{\n\t\tSwapper obj = new Swapper(10, 20);\n\t\tSystem.out.println("Before swapping value of a is "+obj.a+" value of b is "+obj.b);\n\t\tobj.swap(obj);\n\t\tSystem.out.println("After swapping value of a is "+obj.a+" value of b is "+obj.b);\n\t}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Output of the above programming will be:<\/p>\n
    Before swapping value of a is 10 value of b is 20\nAfter swapping value of a is 20 value of b is 10<\/code><\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    The changes performed inside the method swap<\/em> are reflected on a<\/em> and b<\/em> as we have passed the reference obj<\/em> into ref<\/em> which also points to the same memory locations as obj<\/em>. Memory representation of variables is shown in below figure:<\/p>\n
    \"Pass<\/a><\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Note:<\/em><\/strong> In Java, parameters of primitive types<\/em> are passed by value which is same as pass-by-value<\/em> and parameters of reference types<\/em> are also passed by value (the reference is copied) which is same as pass-by-reference<\/em>. So, in Java all parameters are passed by value only.<\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Next let’s learn about access specifiers in java<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    This article explains about the parameter passing techniques in programming languages in general and how Java handles parameters in methods. Sample code is also provided which demonstrates the parameter passing techniques.   This article is a part of our\u00a0core java tutorial for beginners.   Introduction If you have any previous programming experience you might know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":46,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-core-java-basics"],"yoast_head":"\nParameter passing techniques in Java - Startertutorials<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article explains different parameter passing techniques in Java which are used to handle parameters in methods along with appropriate sample code.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parameter passing techniques in Java - Startertutorials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article explains different parameter passing techniques in Java which are used to handle parameters in methods along with appropriate sample code.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Core java tutorial for beginners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-18T06:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T05:04:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Pass-by-value.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1502\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1013\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Suryateja Pericherla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Suryateja Pericherla\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Suryateja Pericherla\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/#\/schema\/person\/c1450a04603ea5a5a359b83a82c247a7\"},\"headline\":\"Parameter passing techniques\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-18T06:10:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-12T05:04:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\"},\"wordCount\":378,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/#\/schema\/person\/c1450a04603ea5a5a359b83a82c247a7\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Pass-by-value.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Core Java Basics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.startertutorials.com\/corejava\/parameter-passing-techniques.html\",\"name\":\"Parameter passing techniques in Java - 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