How Can I Achieve a True Deep Copy of an Object in Programming?

Achieving True Object Deep Copy: Breaking the Reference Chain

Implementing a deep object copy function requires meticulous attention to detail to ensure that the original object and its clone maintain separate identities. To guarantee no reference sharing, follow these crucial steps:

1. Serialization and Deserialization:

A reliable approach is to serialize the original object into a stream of bytes. This process recursively converts the object and its contained objects into a serialized form.

Once serialized, deserialize the data back into a new object instance. This ensures that each object is created independently, breaking any existing reference connections.

2. Restrictions and Exceptions:

Note that certain caveats may arise. Custom classes that override serialization may deliberately preserve existing references. Additionally, if your objects do not implement the Serializable interface, this approach is not applicable.

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