Alternatively there are languages, where this problem can't arise at all. In Clojure for example: (= ...) just tests for (actual) equality, while (def ...) ass

Alternatively there are languages, where this problem can't arise at all. In Clojure for example: (= ...) just tests for (actual) equality, while (def ...) assigns a symbol to a value, or (swap! atom f) changes the value of an atom (reference type).