Explain what is meant by mutation in programming and what are its main aspects?

Mutation in programming is a change in the state of an object or data after it has been created. Simply put, it is the process where variable values or object contents are altered during program execution.

Main aspects of mutation:

• Mutability: objects can be mutable or immutable. Mutation is only possible for mutable objects.
• Side effects: mutation often leads to side effects, which complicate debugging and testing.
• State management: in some paradigms (e.g., functional programming), mutation is minimized or excluded to increase predictability.

Example of mutation in Swift:

var array = [1, 2, 3]
array.append(4) // Mutating the array — adding an element

Here, the array array is modified after creation, which is mutation.