Question

What's the output?

let person = { name: 'Lydia' };
const members = [person];
person = null;

console.log(members);

• A: null
• B: [null]
• C: [{}]
• D: [{ name: "Lydia" }]

Answer 1

Answer: D

First, we declare a variable person with the value of an object that has a name property.

Then, we declare a variable called members. We set the first element of that array equal to the value of the person variable. Objects interact by reference when setting them equal to each other. When you assign a reference from one variable to another, you make a copy of that reference. (note that they don't have the same reference!)

Then, we set the variable person equal to null.

We are only modifying the value of the person variable, and not the first element in the array, since that element has a different (copied) reference to the object. The first element in members still holds its reference to the original object. When we log the members array, the first element still holds the value of the object, which gets logged.