Demonstrating the differences between deep and shallow copy in Python

shallow-vs-deep-copy.py

# no copy
a = {1:'a', 2:'b', 3:{4:'c', 5:'d'}}
b = a
b[1] = 'lol'
print(a[1])
b[3][4] = 'haha'
print(a[3][4])

# shallow copy
c = {1:'a', 2:'b', 3:{4:'c', 5:'d'}}
d = c.copy()
d[1] = 'lol'
print(c[1])
d[3][4] = 'haha'
print(c[3][4])

# we define our own deepcopy function
def deepcopy(d):
    e = d.copy()
    for item in e.keys():
        if type(e[item]) == dict:
            e[item] = deepcopy(e[item])
    return e

# deep copy
e = {1:'a', 2:'b', 3:{4:'c', 5:'d'}}
f = deepcopy(e)
f[1] = 'lol'
print(e[1])
f[3][4] = 'haha'
print(e[3][4])