Alias

It is possible to have two (or more) reference variables refer to the same object. Here is a modification to the program that does that:

import java.awt.*;
class EqualsDemo3
{
  public static void main ( String arg[] )
  {
    Point pointA = new Point( 7, 99 );     // pointA refers to a Point Object
    Point pointB = pointA;                 // pointB refers to the same Object 

    if ( pointA == pointB  )
      System.out.println( "The two variables refer to the same object" );     
    else
      System.out.println( "The two variables refer to different objects" );     

  }
}

Only one object has been created (because there is only one new operator.) The second statement:

Point pointB = pointA; 

copies the reference that is in pointA into the reference variable pointB. Now both reference variables lead to the same object.

alias: When two or more reference variables refer to the same object, each variable is said to be an alias.