Example of differences between slice copy and slice mutation of a list

gistfile1.py

>>> a = b = c = list(range(12))
>>> a is b and a is c
True
>>> a = a[2:]
>>> a
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
>>> a is b and a is c
False
>>> b is c
True
>>> b[:2] = []
>>> b is c
True
>>> b
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
>>> b is a
False
>>> b == a
True