Here is some example code:
d = {"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}
x = d.copy()
d["b"][0]=10
print x
output:
{'a': 'hello', 'b': [10, 2, 3]}
It looks like the key names of a dictionary store pointers to the
values? Or does a dictionary object manage pointers to keys and
values, so copy() above just copies 4 pointers?