Two Steps with an Assignment Operator

Review: Two steps take place when an assignment operator is executed:

1. The expression on the right of the = is evaluated.
2. The result of evaluation is assigned to the variable on the left of the =.

When an object is constructed, these steps happen like this:

   
    String str;    // name for a future object 
    
    str =      new String( "The Gingham Dog" ); 
    --+--      ----------------+--------------
      |                        |
      |                        
      |                        1.  An object is created using the constructor. 
      |                            The Java system keeps track of
      |                            how to find the object.       

      2. A reference to the object is stored in the variable str.

There are two types of things in the above: the object, and a reference to the object.