Memory pointers in Julia

[nae...@ic.ufal.br]

Hello,

I have some questions about memory addresses in Julia.

This is my use case
julia> a = 1
1

julia> pointer_from_objref(a)
Ptr{Void} @0x00007fb9052fa080

julia> pointer_from_objref(1)
Ptr{Void} @0x00007fb9052fa080

julia> a = 2
2

julia> pointer_from_objref(a)
Ptr{Void} @0x00007fb9052fa0b0


When I first check the pointer to a I get @0x00007fb9052fa080, but the same goes when I try pointer_from_objref(1)
When I change the value of a to 2, the memory address for the variable also changes.



Why do I get the same addres to the integer
Why do I get a different memory addres to the the same variable after I only change it's value, is it reallocating a new memory cell?

Thanks

[Jameson Nash]

this is not C – variables don't have first-class memory addresses (also, pointer_from_objref on a immutable returns a semi-random number that was correlated at some point in the past with the value).

[Stefan Karpinski]

This should really not be allowed: calling pointer_from_objref on an immutable should be an error.

[Jameson Nash]

Do we have an issue open? if not, it might be good to track it with one.