Is it possible to determine when a data structure is being copied during program execution?

In iOS (Swift), data copying occurs by value, as structures are value types. The exact moment of copying is difficult to determine directly at runtime because it happens automatically during assignment or when passing a structure to a function.

However, you can indirectly track copying by adding methods or properties that log the creation of copies, for example, implementing a custom initializer or using didSet for properties if possible.

Example:

struct MyStruct {
    var value: Int

    init(value: Int) {
        self.value = value
        print("Struct created with value = \(value)")
    }

    // Add a copy method with logging
    func copy() -> MyStruct {
        print("Copying structure")
        return self
    }
}

var a = MyStruct(value: 10)
var b = a.copy() // explicit copy with log

In real conditions, copying occurs during assignment or passing a structure, but without explicit logging, it is not visible. For classes (reference types), copying does not occur; references are passed instead.