Emphatically not, they should get references, not copies.
It's much faster and cheaper that way, and you can *use*
the side effects, if you want.
Use l[:] to get a copy of the innards of a list.
On the otherhand, if you want the dangerous power of side effects,
use "in-place" operators like append and sort:
>>> l = k = [5,2,6,12,1]
>>> l.sort()
>>> k
[1, 2, 5, 6, 12]
Wow! I sorted k, and I didn't even raise a sweat!
-a.
===
I'm in complete solidarity with the proletariate.
I just prefer not to socialize with them, if you
know what i mean.