Final answer:
When a method assigns a new object reference to an object reference parameter, it can indeed have an effect on the caller.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a method assigns a new object reference to an object reference parameter, it can indeed have an effect on the caller. In Java, objects are passed by reference, meaning that when an object reference is passed to a method, the method can access and modify the object's properties.
Here's an example:
public class Example {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(5, 10);
modifyRectangle(rect);
System.out.println(rect.getWidth());
}
public static void modifyRectangle(Rectangle r) {
r.setWidth(15);
}
}
In this example, the modifyRectangle method is called with the rect object as the argument. Inside the method, the width of the rect object is modified to 15. When we print the width in the main method, it will give us the updated width of 15. So, the changes made to the object reference parameter inside the method do affect the caller.