If you have been programming in Javascript for some time now, you have likely worked with copies even if you might not have realized it. The concept of copying might not seem important until you change a value in the ‘copy object’ and expect the ‘original object’ to remain the same. To effectively work with copies in your projects, Javascript includes support for shallow and deep copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A shallow copy means some (if not all) of the copied values are still connected to the original. Any operation carried on the ‘copied’ version might affect the original. On the other hand, a deep copy means all copied values are disconnected from the original. Any operation carried on the ‘copied’ version will not in any way not affect the original.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You have probably heard of the principle in functional programming philosophy – “you should not modify the existing data<\/a>.” To achieve that, you need to know how to safely copy data while avoiding pitfalls. To get started, this post will first give you a detailed refresher on Javascript data types since they have a huge influence on how you copy values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/div>