Help with where variable references point

Question

public class Test {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          Integer four = new Integer(4);
          Integer five = new Integer(5);
          Integer hey = four;
          System.out.println(hey);              //output here is 4
          hey = five;
          System.out.println(hey);              //output here is 5
          five = null;
          System.out.println(five);              //output here is null
          System.out.println(hey);              //output here is 5***why not null??
          hey = null;
          System.out.println(hey);              //output here is null
}When the variable hey points to five which has been set to null, why does printing out "hey" not show null, but rather 5?! Thanks.

Answer 1

Oh, that makes sense.
My confusion was that I thought the reference of
"hey" would point to the reference of "five",
rather than to the actual object.Variables don't "point" to references, they contain references.
So iiuc, there is no such variable that ever points
to a reference? Meaning, a 'string' will
always be tied directly to the balloon, and
never to another 'string' as I described above?No, a variable can contain a reference to an object that has a member that contains another reference. The simplest form of this structure is a variable that holds a reference to an array of objects. Those objects could be arrays of objects, etc.
Also, does that mean the following two options are
absolutely identical?
- pointing a variable to an object Bla
- pointing a variable to the variable that points to
the same object BlaThe 2nd is impossible. Variables can't "point" to variables. They can only hold references to objects.