Editing Name binding (section)

==Rebinding and mutation==
Rebinding should not be confused with mutation or assignment.

* ''Rebinding'' is a change to the ''referencing'' identifier.
* ''Assignment'' is a change to (the referenced) variable.
* ''Mutation'' is a change to an object in memory, possibly referenced by a variable or bound to an identifier.

Consider the following [[Java (programming language)|Java]] code:

<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
LinkedList<String> list;
list = new LinkedList<String>();
list.add("foo");
list = null;
{ LinkedList<Integer> list = new LinkedList<Integer>(); list.add(Integer(2)); }
</syntaxhighlight>

The identifier <code>list</code> is bound to a variable in the first line; in the second, an object (a linked list of strings) is assigned to the variable. The linked list referenced by the variable is then mutated, adding a string to the list. Next, the variable is assigned the constant <code>null</code>. In the last line, the identifier is rebound for the scope of the block. Operations within the block access a new variable and not the variable previously bound to <code>list</code>.