Conceptual Self-Check

Uncover your misconceptions by answering conceptual questions

In Java:
An abstract class does not need to implement all abstract methods defined in its superclass

In Java:
An abstract class must implement all abstract methods defined in its superclass

In Java:
An abstract class cannot contain implemented methods

In Java:
An abstract class can also contain implemented methods

In Java:
Set of class members stays fixed at runtime

In Java:
Set of class members can change at runtime

In Java:
Only classes without constructor automatically get a no-argument constructor

In Java:
All classes automatically get a no-argument constructor

In Java:
Any class can be an exception class

In Java:
Exceptions are subtypes of Throwable

In Java:
Addition and string concatenation have same precedence

In Java:
Addition has higher precedence than string concatenation

In Java:
Square brackets are used to access an element in an array

In Java:
Parentheses are used to access an element in an array

In Java:
Arrays are created without the new keyword

In Java:
All arrays are allocated on the heap with new

In Java:
The number of brackets in an array type or an array initializer corresponds to the length of the array

In Java:
The number of brackets in an array type or an array initializer corresponds to the rank of the array

In Java:
The type of a multi-dimensional array is written as T[][][]

In Java:
The type of a multi-dimensional array is written as T[] T[] T[]

In Java:
Elements of arrays are untyped

In Java:
The type of an array specifies the type of the elements

In Java:
To get the length of an array, one needs to read its length field

In Java:
To get the length of an array, one needs to call its length method

In Java:
Array initializers list the elements in curly braces

In Java:
Array initializers list the elements in square brackets

In Java:
An array can have a length of 0 elements

In Java:
An array cannot have a length of 0 elements

In Java:
The length of an array is not part of its type

In Java:
The length of an array is part of its type

In Java:
ArrayLists are arrays

In Java:
ArrayLists and arrays are different things

In Java:
Array rank and array length are the same thing

In Java:
Array rank and array length are different concepts

In Java:
The rank of an array is part of its type

In Java:
The rank of an array is not part of its type

In Java:
The length of an array is fixed and is determined at allocation

In Java:
Arrays can grow dynamically

In Java:
= compares two values

In Java:
= assigns a value to a variable

In Java:
Assignment copies the object

In Java:
Assignment copies the reference pointing to the object

In Java:
An assignment a=b is not an expression

In Java:
An assignment a=b is an expression and thus produces a value

In Java:
Recursive computations need a base case to terminate

In Java:
Recursive computations do not necessarily need a base case

In Java:
The base case of a structural recursion does not perform a recursive call

In Java:
The base case of a structural recursion consists of a recursive self-call

In Java:
A method invocation on a reference of a type that does not have that method won't compile

In Java:
A method invocation on a reference of a type that does not have that method will compile

In Java:
One cannot invoke methods on primitive values

In Java:
One can invoke a method on primitive values

In Java:
One needs a variable to invoke a method

In Java:
Methods can be invoked on expressions that evaluate to a suitable object

In Java:
Each method invocation allocates a new stack frame

In Java:
A method invocation does not necessarily allocate a stack frame

In Java:
Stack frame of caller does not include variables for callee's formal parameters

In Java:
Stack frame of caller includes variables for callee's formal parameters

In Java:
Member accesses can be chained together

In Java:
Member accesses cannot be chained together

In Java:
Method calls or field accesses can be chained to a constructor invocation

In Java:
Method calls or field accesses cannot be chained to a constructor invocation

In Java:
Catch blocks only get executed if an exception is thrown in the try block

In Java:
Catch blocks always get executed

In Java:
Only the part of a catch block necessary to fix the cause of an exception is executed

In Java:
When an exception is caught, all statements in the corresponding catch block execute

In Java:
Chained methods are called on the object that results from the previous call in the chain

In Java:
Chained methods are all called on the object at the beginning of the chain

In Java:
Char is a numeric type

In Java:
Char is not a numeric type

In Java:
To test whether an expression is true or false, one can just use it

In Java:
To test whether an expression is true or false, one must compare it to true or to false

In Java:
Expressions that consist of multiple parts have no type

In Java:
Expressions that consist of multiple parts have a type

In Java:
A concrete class needs to implement all abstract methods and override all concrete methods declared in its abstract superclasses

In Java:
A concrete class does not necessarily need to override concrete methods declared in its abstract superclasses

In Java:
A concrete class only needs to implement those abstract methods it inherits from abstract superclasses

In Java:
A concrete class needs to implement both the abstract methods it inherits from abstract superclasses and those declared in the interfaces it implements

In Java:
A concrete class needs to implement all abstract methods declared in its supertypes, both direct and indirect

In Java:
A concrete class only needs to implement abstract methods declared in its direct supertypes

In Java:
A concrete class needs to implement both the abstract methods it inherits from interfaces and those declared in the abstract class it extends

In Java:
A concrete class only needs to implement those abstract methods it inherits from interfaces

In Java:
If-else can behave differently from sequence of two ifs

In Java:
If-else is equivalent to sequence of two ifs

In Java:
The constructor allocates the object

In Java:
The constructor does not allocate the object, it just initializes it

In Java:
Formal constructor parameters are completely separate from instance variables

In Java:
Formal constructor parameters are equivalent to instance variables

In Java:
Constructors need to return objects

In Java:
Constructors cannot return anything

In Java:
The constructor name needs to come after the keyword new to instantiate a class

In Java:
One can write the constructor name, without new, to instantiate a class

In Java:
One cannot control access to local variables

In Java:
One can control access to local variables using access modifiers

In Java:
A return statement in the middle of a method doesn't return immediately

In Java:
A return statement immediately returns from the method

In Java:
There is no special keyword for multi-way conditional statements

In Java:
There is an elsif keyword for multi-way conditional statements

In Java:
The else branch of an if-else statement always executes

In Java:
The else branch of an if-else statement only executes if the condition evaluates to false

In Java:
o==p compares the references stored in the variables o and p

In Java:
o==p compares the objects referred to by variables o and p

In Java:
o.equals(p) compares the objects referred to by variables o and p

In Java:
o.equals(p) compares the references stored in the variables o and p

In Java:
Evaluating an expression means outputting its result

In Java:
Evaluating an expression produces a value, but does not output it

In Java:
Exception is the top-most exception class

In Java:
Throwable is the top-most exception class

In Java:
An expression that reads a variable also updates its value after the evaluation

In Java:
A variable is only written using an assignment

In Java:
The type of expressions is determined, without evaluation, at compile time

In Java:
One has to evaluate an expression to determine its type

In Java:
An object referred to by a final variable can be a mutable object

In Java:
An object referred to by a final variable is an immutable object

In Java:
An enhanced for loop iterates over the elements of an array or a collection

In Java:
An enhanced for loop iterates over the indices of an array or a collection

In Java:
For-each loops know how to traverse any recursive data structure

In Java:
For-each loops only know how to traverse arrays and Iterables

In Java:
The variable of an enhanced for statement contains a copy of the value of the corresponding array or collection element

In Java:
One can assign to the variable of an enhanced for statement to store a value in the corresponding array or collection element

In Java:
The body of a for statement executes at most once

In Java:
The body of a for statement executes repeatedly, as long as the condition holds

In Java:
The scope of variables declared in a for loop header is limited to the loop

In Java:
The scope of variables declared in a for loop header extends beyond the loop

In Java:
A stack frame is the same as an instance of a class

In Java:
Stack frames and class instances both hold variables, but they are different concepts

In Java:
The body of an if statement executes at most once

In Java:
The body of an if statement executes repeatedly, as long as the condition holds

In Java:
Every if statement requires an else

In Java:
If statements do not necessarily require an else

In Java:
Immutable classes can have constructor/method parameters that are not final

In Java:
Immutable classes need final constructor/method parameters

In Java:
Java implicitly produces implementations of any methods a class inherits from the interfaces it implements

In Java:
Java does not implicitly produce implementations of any methods a class inherits from the interfaces it implements

In Java:
Dividing two integers always produces an integer

In Java:
Dividing two integers can produce a rational number

In Java:
An interface cannot extend a class

In Java:
An interface can extend a class

In Java:
Integer numbers without L or l suffix that are too large for an int are illegal

In Java:
Large integer numbers have type long

In Java:
A literal is not an expression

In Java:
Even an individual literal is an expression

In Java:
String literals always must be surrounded by quotes

In Java:
When passing a literal string as argument to a method, no quotes are needed

In Java:
Local variables must be initialized explicitly

In Java:
Local variables are automatically initialized

In Java:
Lifetime of variables declared in a loop body is limited to one loop iteration

In Java:
Lifetime of variables declared in a loop body extends across all loop iterations

In Java:
For and while loops end when the condition becomes false

In Java:
For and while loops end when the condition becomes true

In Java:
To map a boolean expression to a boolean, one can just use it

In Java:
To map a boolean expression to a boolean, a conditional operator is necessary

In Java:
To map a boolean expression to a boolean, one can just use it

In Java:
To map a boolean expression to a boolean, an if statement is necessary

In Java:
Each object contains its own special fields for all of its methods

In Java:
Each object contains a special field referring to its class, and the class knows about its methods

In Java:
A method declaration does not need to include a return type

In Java:
A method declaration must include a return type

In Java:
Methods can be defined outside a class

In Java:
Methods must be defined inside a class

In Java:
A reference variable can point to multiple objects

In Java:
A reference variable can point to only one object at a time

In Java:
A variable can contain more than one value

In Java:
A variable can contain only one value at a time

In Java:
A multi-dimensional array is one single array object

In Java:
A multi-dimensional is a structure of nested arrays

In Java:
A class can have multiple superclasses

In Java:
A class can have only one direct superclass

In Java:
Constructors do not need to assign values to all fields

In Java:
Constructors must assign values to all fields

In Java:
To instantiate a generic type, for each type parameter one only needs to specify the type

In Java:
To instantiate a generic type, for each type parameter one has to specify both the name and the type

In Java:
Classes are independent of object containment

In Java:
If objects are part of a containment hierarchy, their classes are nested, too

In Java:
Sub-packages are independent of their parent packages and do not have special access rights

In Java:
Packages can contain other packages which have access to members of the containing package

In Java:
Expressions must consist of more than one piece

In Java:
A single piece, like a literal or name, also is an expression

In Java:
One can invoke methods on String literals

In Java:
One cannot invoke methods on String literals

In Java:
A variable being at least as big (bit-width) as a value may not be sufficient to avoid a cast when assigning the value to the variable

In Java:
If a variable is at least as big (bit-width) as a value, then no cast is needed to a assign the value to the variable

In Java:
\ is an escape character in char and String literals

In Java:
\ is a normal character in char and String literals

In Java:
A constructor's body can be empty

In Java:
A constructor must do something

In Java:
An object contains only the fields declared in its class

In Java:
An object contains the fields declared in its class and all its superclasses

In Java:
Objects without instance variables can't exist

In Java:
Objects can have any number of instance variables, including zero

In Java:
There are no float literals

In Java:
An F or f suffix can turn a number into a float literal

In Java:
Smaller types can be automatically converted into bigger ones even without an explicit cast

In Java:
Smaller types are never automatically converted into bigger ones without an explicit cast

In Java:
It is allow to call other methods on the same object while inside its constructor

In Java:
It is foirbidden to call other methods on the same object while inside its constructor

In Java:
Multi-dimensional arrays have a rectangular shape

In Java:
Multi-dimensional arrays can have a jagged shape

In Java:
There are no local variables

In Java:
Methods can have local variables

In Java:
There are no long literals

In Java:
An L or l suffix can turn a number into a long literal

In Java:
Subclasses inherit both fields and methods

In Java:
Subclasses inherit fields but not methods

In Java:
Every sequence of letters and digits starting with a letter can be used as an identifier

In Java:
Some character sequences are reserved for use as keywords and cannot be used as identifiers

In Java:
&& and || always evaluate both operands

In Java:
&& and || evaluate their right operand only if absolutely necessary

In Java:
& is only a bitwise AND

In Java:
& for boolean operands is a logical AND

In Java:
One can invoke toString() on a String

In Java:
One cannot invoke toString() on a String

In Java:
null is a reference pointing to no object

In Java:
null is an object

In Java:
NullPointerExceptions are detected at compile time

In Java:
NullPointerExceptions are detected at runtime

In Java:
Numeric types cannot be coerced to boolean

In Java:
Numeric types can be coerced to boolean

In Java:
A variable is needed to instantiate an object

In Java:
Objects have no name and can exist without a variable referring to them

In Java:
Only the elements of the innermost array of a multi-dimensional array are accessible

In Java:
Also the elements of outer arrays of a multi-dimensional array are accessible

In Java:
Out-of-bounds array elements cannot be accessed

In Java:
Out-of-bounds array elements are null

In Java:
Nested method calls are invoked inside out

In Java:
Nested method calls are invoked outside in

In Java:
() are mandatory even for method calls without arguments

In Java:
() are optional for method calls without arguments

In Java:
Pre-increment in update part of for loop means increment before loop body

In Java:
Pre-increment in update part of for loop means same as pre-increment anywhere else

In Java:
Primitive values are heap objects

In Java:
Primitive values are not objects

In Java:
Type parameters of generic types need to be instantiated with reference types

In Java:
Type parameters of generic types can be instantiated with primitive types

In Java:
The type of a primitive variable depends on its value

In Java:
The type of a primitive variable is fixed and does not depend on its value

In Java:
Private members of a superclass are not accessible from a subclass

In Java:
Private members of a superclass are accessible from a subclass

In Java:
A class where all fields are private can still be mutable

In Java:
A class where all fields are private is immutable

In Java:
An object cannot access private members of other objects of the same class

In Java:
An object can access private members of all other objects of the same class

In Java:
Static methods cannot access private members of instances of same class

In Java:
Static methods can access private members of instances of same class

In Java:
Even a private field can be mutable

In Java:
A private field cannot be changed

In Java:
Rational fractions are divisions of two integer literals

In Java:
Rational fractions are literals

In Java:
Recursive calls of a method share a stack frame

In Java:
Each recursive call of a method gets its own stack frame

In Java:
Tail-recursive call sites of non-void methods need no return statement

In Java:
In non-void methods, even tail-recursive call sites need a return statement

In Java:
A class with a recursive method represents part of a recursive data structure

In Java:
A class having a recursive method does not imply that it is part of a recursive data structure

In Java:
A recursive method does not necessarily need to contain an if-else statement

In Java:
A recursive method needs to contain an if-else statement

In Java:
References can only point into the heap

In Java:
References can point into the stack

In Java:
Every reference type can be coerced to boolean

In Java:
Not every reference type can be coerced to boolean

In Java:
One can cast between references and ints

In Java:
One cannot cast between references and ints

In Java:
References can only point to heap objects

In Java:
References can point to variables

In Java:
If a class refers to a recursive data structure, it is not necessarily part of that recursion

In Java:
A class referring to a recursive data structure is (indirectly) part of that recursion as well

In Java:
Return statements need () around the return value

In Java:
Return statements do not need () around the return value

In Java:
A return statement pops exactly one call stack frame

In Java:
A return statement can unwind multiple call stack frames

In Java:
Chained accesses are invoked from left to right

In Java:
Chained accesses are invoked from right to left

In Java:
RuntimeExceptions are checked exceptions

In Java:
RuntimeExceptions are unchecked exceptions

In Java:
String literals can be in single quotes

In Java:
String literals must be in double quotes

In Java:
A stack trace is the sequence of previously called methods

In Java:
A stack trace only includes the currently active methods

In Java:
A static method call is dispatched based on the declared types of the arguments

In Java:
A static method call is dispatched polymorphically at runtime based on the argument types

In Java:
The method to be called is determined by the static type

In Java:
The method to be called is determined by the dynamic type

In Java:
One can know the length of a String object by calling its length method

In Java:
One can know the length of a String object by accessing its length field

In Java:
A String literal represents a String object and can be treated as such

In Java:
One needs to call the String constructor to get a String object from a literal

In Java:
String concatenation evaluates non-String operand expressions and casts value to String

In Java:
String concatenation stringifies non-String operand expressions

In Java:
The multiplication operator can repeat a String a number of times

In Java:
The multiplication operator does not accept a String and a number

In Java:
A variable of a subtype can reference an object of a supertype

In Java:
A variable of a subtype cannot reference an object of a supertype

In Java:
To call a method on a superclass, it is wrong to write parentheses after the keyword super

In Java:
To call a method on a superclass, parentheses are needed after the keyword super

In Java:
super() can be called anywhere in the constructor of a subclass

In Java:
super() must be called in the first statement in the constructor of a subclass

In Java:
When instantiating an object of a subclass, just that object is allocated

In Java:
When instantiating an object of a subclass, an object of a superclass is also allocated

In Java:
A variable of a supertype can reference an object of a subtype

In Java:
A variable of a supertype cannot reference an object of a subtype

In Java:
The type of a numerical expression is determined by the expression

In Java:
The type of a numerical expression depends on the type expected by the surrounding context

In Java:
this is a special local variable in the stack frame

In Java:
this is a special field in the object

In Java:
One can assign to this

In Java:
One cannot assign to this

In Java:
this can be null

In Java:
this is never null

In Java:
this is a local variable, also in static methods

In Java:
this does not exist in static methods

In Java:
In a constructor, this is never null

In Java:
In a constructor, this is null

In Java:
The name this is not an expression

In Java:
Even the name this on its own is an expression

In Java:
Invoking toString() does not produce any output

In Java:
Invoking toString() prints something

In Java:
When a piece of code can throw an exception, it is optional to surround it with a try/catch block

In Java:
When a piece of code can throw an exception, it must be surrounded with a try/catch block

In Java:
Exceptions get thrown at the end of the try block

In Java:
Exceptions get thrown immediately when they occur

In Java:
Variables must be declared before they are used

In Java:
Variables can be used even without being declared beforehand

In Java:
Classes in different packages can have the same unqualified name

In Java:
The unqualified names of different classes must be different

In Java:
Variable declarations need a type

In Java:
Variable declarations don't need a type

In Java:
A class can have methods with a local variable, parameter, or return value with the class as its type without being a recursive type

In Java:
If a class has a method that has a local variable, parameter, or return value with the class as its type, the class is a recursive type

In Java:
= stores an expression in a variable

In Java:
= evaluates an expression and stores its value in a variable

In Java:
A variable of a reference type contains a reference to an object

In Java:
A variable of a reference type contains a whole object

In Java:
A method with void return type can't be recursive

In Java:
A method with void return type can be recursive

In Java:
A method with void return type cannot return a value

In Java:
A method with void return type can return a value

In Java:
In integer numbers, decimal digits with value `0` take less storage than decimal digits with other values

In Java:
In integer numbers, all decimal digits take the same amount of storage

In JavaScript:
Accessing a non existent property on an object produces an error

In JavaScript:
Accessing a non existent property on an object evaluates to undefined

In JavaScript:
When an arrow function consists just of an expression, the return keyword is implied

In JavaScript:
Even when an arrow function consists just of an expression, the return keyword must be explicitly written

In JavaScript:
Arrow functions do not require the keyword 'function'

In JavaScript:
Arrow functions also require the keyword 'function'

In JavaScript:
Assignment copies the reference pointing to the object

In JavaScript:
Assignment copies the object

In JavaScript:
Parameters of a callback function may be written as parameters of the caller function

In JavaScript:
A function that expects a callback has that callback function as a parameter

In JavaScript:
A single character is of type string

In JavaScript:
A single character is of type char

In JavaScript:
A class definition does not define a type; all objects have type object

In JavaScript:
The type of an object is equivalent to the type defined by its class definition

In JavaScript:
The conditional operator is not an expression

In JavaScript:
The conditional operator is not an expression

In JavaScript:
Declarations of constants do not need to be immediately initialized

In JavaScript:
Declarations of constants need to be immediately initialized

In JavaScript:
An object referred to by a const variable can be a mutable object

In JavaScript:
An object referred to by a const variable is an immutable object

In JavaScript:
The equality operator compares two objects' references

In JavaScript:
The equality operator compares two objects' values

In JavaScript:
The equality operator '==' compares only the types of the operands

In JavaScript:
The equality operator '==' compares only the values of the operands

In JavaScript:
To use a function as a value, one just needs to write its name

In JavaScript:
To use a function as a value, one needs to have parentheses after its name

In JavaScript:
It not is possible to create multiple functions with the same name but with different signatures

In JavaScript:
It is possible to create multiple functions with the same name but with different signatures

In JavaScript:
Functions can be immediately called in the expression in which they are defined

In JavaScript:
Functions cannot be called in the expression in which they are defined

In JavaScript:
Every function definition requires an associated name

In JavaScript:
One can define a function without associating a name to it

In JavaScript:
An identifier used to access a property with the bracket notation is firstly evaluated

In JavaScript:
An identifier used to access a property with the bracket notation is treated as a string

In JavaScript:
An expression must be assigned to have a valid statement

In JavaScript:
An expression alone, without an assignment, is already a valid statement

In JavaScript:
Map returns a new array populated with the results of the callback function

In JavaScript:
Map modifies the elements of the array on which it operates in place

In JavaScript:
Expressions must consist of more than one piece

In JavaScript:
A single piece, like a literal or name, also is an expression

In JavaScript:
Square brackets can be used to access properties of an object

In JavaScript:
Square brackets cannot be used to access properties of an object

In JavaScript:
Multiple function calls can be chained together

In JavaScript:
It is not allowed to chain function calls

In JavaScript:
There is always a global object

In JavaScript:
There isn't a global object

In JavaScript:
Functions without return statements return undefined

In JavaScript:
Functions without return statements return no value at all

In JavaScript:
null and undefined are two distinct values

In JavaScript:
The values null and undefined are the same

In JavaScript:
null is a reference pointing to no object

In JavaScript:
null is an object

In JavaScript:
Functions must be called with the same number of arguments as defined in their signature

In JavaScript:
Functions can be called with a different number of arguments as defined in their signature

In JavaScript:
Objects are passed by value

In JavaScript:
Objects are passed by reference

In JavaScript:
JavaScript is based on a class-based object model

In JavaScript:
JavaScript is based on a prototype-based object model

In JavaScript:
One can repeat a String by multiplying it with a number

In JavaScript:
One cannot repeat a String by multiplying it with a number

In JavaScript:
One can assign to this

In JavaScript:
One cannot assign to this

In JavaScript:
The typeof operator applied on an array returns 'array'

In JavaScript:
The typeof operator applied on an array returns 'object'

In JavaScript:
The value null is of type 'object'

In JavaScript:
The value null is of type 'null'

In Python:
= compares two values

In Python:
= assigns a value to a variable

In Python:
Assignment copies the object

In Python:
Assignment copies the reference to the object

In Python:
Attribute accesses cannot be chained together

In Python:
Attribute accesses can be chained together

In Python:
Method calls, and attribute accesses in general, cannot be chained to a constructor invocation.

In Python:
Method calls, and attribute accesses in general, can be chained to a constructor invocation.

In Python:
To test whether an expression is True or False, one can just use it

In Python:
To test whether an expression is True or False, one must compare it to True or to False

In Python:
If-else is equivalent to sequence of two ifs

In Python:
If-else can behave differently from sequence of two ifs

In Python:
A return statement immediately returns from the function

In Python:
A return statement in the middle of a function doesn't return immediately

In Python:
The body of an if-statement executes at most once

In Python:
The body of an if-statement executes repeatedly, as long as the condition holds

In Python:
__init__ must create a new object

In Python:
__init__ does not create the object, it just initializes it

In Python:
__init__ cannot return values other than None

In Python:
__init__ needs to return an object

In Python:
To map a boolean expression to a bool, an if statement is necessary

In Python:
To map a boolean expression to a bool, one can just use it

In Python:
To map a boolean expression to a bool, a ternary conditional operator is necessary

In Python:
To map a boolean expression to a bool, one can just use it

In Python:
Functions can only return one value

In Python:
Functions can return multiple values

In Python:
Expressions must consist of more than one piece

In Python:
A single piece, like a literal or name, also is an expression

In Python:
The body of __init__ can be empty

In Python:
__init__ must do something

In Python:
Every sequence of letters and digits starting with a letter or an underscore can be used as an identifier

In Python:
Some character sequences are reserved for use as keywords and cannot be used as identifiers

In Python:
The * operator can be used to repeat sequences

In Python:
There is no operator that repeats sequences

In Python:
and/or evaluate their right operand only if absolutely necessary

In Python:
and/or always evaluate both operands

In Python:
& is only a bitwise AND

In Python:
& for boolean operands is a logical AND

In Python:
Objects have no name and can exist without a variable referring to them

In Python:
A variable is needed to instantiate an object

In Python:
Nested function calls are invoked outside in

In Python:
Nested function calls are invoked inside out

In Python:
() are mandatory even for function calls without arguments

In Python:
() are optional for function calls without arguments

In Python:
The plus operator can concatenate strings and numbers

In Python:
The plus operator cannot concatenate strings and numbers

In Python:
A recursive function does not necessarily need to contain an if-else statement

In Python:
A recursive function needs to contain an if-else statement

In Python:
Return statements need () around the return value

In Python:
Return statements do not need () around the return value

In Python:
A return statement pops exactly one call stack frame

In Python:
A return statement can unwind multiple call stack frames

In Python:
Chained accesses are invoked from right to left

In Python:
Chained accesses are invoked from left to right

In Python:
Reassigning self does not change the object on which a method is called

In Python:
Reassigning self changes the object on which a method is called

In Python:
Even the name self on its own is an expression

In Python:
The name self is not an expression

In Python:
One needs to call str to instantiate a str object from a string literal

In Python:
A string literal represents a str object and can be treated as such

In Python:
= evaluates an expression and stores a reference to its value in a variable

In Python:
= stores an expression: it stores a reference to the expression in a variable

In Python:
A variable contains a whole object

In Python:
A variable contains a reference to an object

In Scratch:
Recursive computations need a base case to terminate

In Scratch:
Recursive computations do not necessarily need a base case

In Scratch:
To test whether an expression evaluates to true or false, one can just use it

In Scratch:
To test whether an expression evaluates to true or false, one must compare it to a constant

In Scratch:
If-then-else block is equivalent to sequence of two if-then blocks

In Scratch:
If-then-else block can behave differently from sequence of two if-then blocks

In Scratch:
The else branch of an if-then-else block always executes

In Scratch:
The else branch of an if-then-else block only executes if the condition evaluates to false

In Scratch:
(list a) = (list b) compares the contents of list a and list b

In Scratch:
(list a) = (list b) compares the identities of list a and list b

In Scratch:
() = () compares only the types of its operands

In Scratch:
() = () compares the values of its operands

In Scratch:
A variable is only written using an assignment

In Scratch:
An expression that reads a variable also updates its value after the evaluation

In Scratch:
A list can have a length of 0 items

In Scratch:
A list cannot have a length of 0 items

In Scratch:
A list can contain items of different types

In Scratch:
All items in a list must have the same type

In Scratch:
Blocks following an if without else will not execute if the condition is false

In Scratch:
Blocks following an if without else will execute even if the condition is false

In Scratch:
Each block in a loop is repeated individually

In Scratch:
The whole sequence of blocks in a loop is repeated

In Scratch:
The computation of a loop iteration starts from the state that is based on everything that happened before, including prior iterations of the loop

In Scratch:
The computation of all loop iterations starts from the state before the loop

In Scratch:
Running a Scratch program first resets the state of the world and then executes the program

In Scratch:
Running a Scratch program executes the program starting with the world in its current state