Strange behaviour after loop by reference - Is this a PHP bug?

I just had some very strange behavior with a simple php script I was writing. I reduced it to the minimum necessary to recreate the bug:

Is Java pass-by-reference?

I always thought Java was pass-by-reference, however I've seen a couple of blog posts (e.g. this blog ) that claim it's not. I don't think I understand the distinction they're making.

Can I pass parameters by reference in Java?

I'd like semantics similar to C# 's ref keyword.

ArrayAccess in PHP — assigning to offset by reference

First, a quote from the ole' manual on ArrayAccess::offsetSet() :

This function is not called in assignments by reference and otherwise indirect changes to array dimensions overloaded with ArrayAccess (indirect in the sense they are made not by changing the dimension directly, but by changing a sub-dimension or sub-property or assigning the array dimension by reference to another variable). Instead, ArrayAccess::offsetGet() is called. The operation will only be successful if that method returns by reference, which is only possible since PHP 5.3.4 .