{
  "id": "programming.variables.assignment-links-variables",
  "uri": "https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/m/programming.variables.assignment-links-variables",
  "uuid": "3c50552e-a1f7-4d39-b0e5-1e1673032c7b",
  "version": "0.1.1",
  "status": "draft",
  "trust": "low",
  "title": "Assignment links two variables",
  "statement": "After a = b the two variables are connected, so whenever b changes later, a changes too.",
  "kind": "misapplied-analogy",
  "domain": "programming.variables",
  "about": [
    {
      "scheme": "Miscon",
      "uri": "https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/c/programming.variables.assignment"
    }
  ],
  "level_band": [
    "secondary",
    "undergraduate",
    "adult"
  ],
  "locale": "en",
  "evidence_patterns": [
    {
      "item_shape": "trace a change to the source variable after an assignment between primitives",
      "signature": "reports the destination variable as having the source's new value",
      "example": {
        "item": "a = 1\nb = a\na = 7\nWhat is b?",
        "expected": "1",
        "response": "7"
      }
    }
  ],
  "discriminators": {
    "vs_slip": "A slip gives the wrong value once. The belief is stated ('b is a now') and holds on every item where the source is later reassigned.",
    "vs": {
      "programming.variables.assignment-is-equation": "Equation believers object to x = x + 1; linkers do not.",
      "programming.objects.assignment-copies-object": "The object case is the mirror image: there the learner expects independence and gets aliasing. Test with a primitive and an object item."
    }
  },
  "relations": {
    "conflicts_with": [
      {
        "external": "https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/c/programming.variables.assignment",
        "label": "Assignment copies a value into a variable at one moment"
      }
    ],
    "resolved_by": [
      {
        "external": "https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/c/programming.variables.assignment",
        "label": "Assignment copies a value into a variable at one moment"
      },
      {
        "external": "https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/c/programming.variables.variable",
        "label": "A variable holds exactly one value at a time"
      }
    ],
    "confusable_with": [
      "programming.variables.assignment-is-equation",
      "programming.variables.assignment-moves-value"
    ]
  },
  "provenance": {
    "sources": [
      {
        "type": "paper",
        "citation": "Ma, L., Ferguson, J., Roper, M., & Wood, M. (2007). Investigating the viability of mental models held by novice programmers. In Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '07), 499-503.",
        "doi": "10.1145/1227310.1227481",
        "note": "Non-viable mental models of value assignment among novices."
      },
      {
        "type": "book",
        "citation": "Sorva, J. (2012). Visual Program Simulation in Introductory Programming Education (Doctoral dissertation, Aalto University). Appendix A catalogues introductory programming misconceptions from the literature.",
        "url": "https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/3534"
      },
      {
        "type": "paper",
        "citation": "Sirkiä, T., & Sorva, J. (2012). Exploring programming misconceptions: An analysis of student mistakes in visual program simulation exercises. In Proceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, 19-28.",
        "doi": "10.1145/2401796.2401799"
      }
    ],
    "origin": "llm-drafted",
    "notes": "Drafted from the cited literature for the Open Misconceptions seed pack; statement, examples and discriminators are original text. Awaiting maintainer review."
  },
  "history": {
    "changelog": [
      {
        "version": "0.1.1",
        "date": "2026-09-05",
        "change": "Schema 0.2 migration: about/alignments carry a free-string scheme (corestandards.org URLs relabelled CCSS where present); trust computed from reviews[] (none yet, so low); no change to the statement or evidence."
      }
    ]
  },
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0"
}