Hi Bob,
" For me two different references are different even if they point to the same object...."
Java always talks of references having a value which is a handle to an Object.
[ although the value is not known to us ]
Hence, when two references refer to the same Object, they are considered having the same value.
Even when we talk of Pass By Reference in method invocations, we say that copy(value) of
the reference is passed. Hence it is often said, "In Java, references are passed by value".
Amit.