Are all objects returned by value rather than by reference?
I see what I missed now: Objects are created on the heap, but function frames are on the stack. So when methodB finishes, its frame will be reclaimed, but that object will still exist on the heap, and methodA can access it with a simple reference.
I am coding in Python trying to decide whether I should return a numpy array (the result of a diff on some other array) or return numpy.where(diff)[0], which is a smaller array but requires that little extra work to create. Let's call the method where this happens methodB.
I call methodB from methodA. The rub is that I won't necessarily always need the where() result in methodA, but I might. So is it worth doing this work inside methodB, or should I pass back the (much larger memory-wise) diff itself and then only process it further in methodA if needed? That would be the more efficient choice assuming methodA just gets a reference to the result.
So, are function results ever not copied when they are passed back the the code that called that function?
I believe that when methodB finishes, all the memory in its frame will be reclaimed by the system, so methodA has to actually copy anything returned by methodB in to its own frame in order to be able to use it. I would call this "return by value". Is this correct?