y = 8;
x = y;  // the meaning of assignment depends on the language and the data type

In Java, the assignment of primitive types is not quite
the same as the assignmentof reference types.

In C, you need to distinguish between simple types and
composite types (arrays and structs).



Understanding assignment is important for understanding
function calls since parameter passing is a kind of
variable assignment.


// function definition
f(x) = 3*x*x + 4


// function call (parameter passing)
y = 8;
f(y);   // x (the parameter) = y (the argument)


What if y is a composite data type?