Definitions for "Immutable"
Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable.
In some programming languages, objects of some types are immutable, that is, they cannot be modified. For example, in Standard ML, only arrays and refs are mutable; all other objects are immutable. This property can be very useful for garbage collection. For instance, no immutable object may contain a reference to an object younger than itself, and no immutable object will appear in a remembered set. Garbage collectors for these languages often take advantage of this property. In lazy languages, the evaluation of an expression may require an object of a different size, and adjustment of references may take place. This means that, although objects might be immutable at the language level, they are not immutable at the implementation level, and may contain references to younger objects. Opposites: mutable. See also: generational garbage collection.
objects that are immutable cannot be changed, e.g. a document that has been issued is immutable as it may be revised but cannot be edited