Difference between two blocks of codes

Question

words = ["hello", "world", "spam", "eggs"]
counter = 0
max_index = len(words) - 1

word = words[counter]
while counter <= max_index:

print(word + "!")
counter = counter + 1

words = ["hello", "world", "spam", "eggs"]
counter = 0
max_index = len(words) - 1

while counter <= max_index:
word = words[counter]
print(word + "!")
counter = counter + 1

why does the first block of code print out only 'Hello!" while the second prints out all the strings in the list?

Answer 1

Because the value of word in the first example is only set once, out of the loop.

When you write word = words[counter], word doesn't become an alias for words[counter], it is simply set to the value words[counter] currently has.

Answer 2

thanks Zen