除了这些精彩的回答，我还想补充几点。像字符串一样，Array保存了对数组开头的引用，所以如果你创建了两个数组arr1和arr2，并做了类似arr2 = arr1的事情，这将使arr2的引用与arr1相同，因此改变其中一个的值将导致另一个的改变

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int[] a = {1, 2, 3, 4};
        int[] b = a;
        a[0] = 8;
        b[1] = 7;
        System.out.println("A: " + a[0] + ", B: " + b[0]);
        System.out.println("A: " + a[1] + ", B: " + b[1]);
        //outputs
        //A: 8, B: 8
        //A: 7, B: 7
    }
}

Not only that it would cause bugs in the code it also can(and will) be exploited by malicious user. Suppose if you have a system that changes the admin password. The user have to first enter the newPassword and then the oldPassword if the oldPassword is same as the adminPass the program change the password by adminPass = newPassword. let's say that the new password has the same reference as the admin password so a bad programmer may create a temp variable to hold the admin password before the users inputs data if the oldPassword is equal to temp it changes the password otherwise adminPass = temp. Someone knowing that could easily enter the new password and never enter the old password and abracadabra he has admin access. Another thing I didn't understand when learning about Strings why doesn't JVM create a new string for every object and have a unique place in memory for it and you can just do that using new String("str"); The reason you wouldn't want to always use new is because it's not memory efficient and it is slower in most cases read more.

这可能与安全性没有多大关系，因为安全实践建议使用字符数组作为密码，而不是字符串。这是因为当不再需要数组时，可以立即删除数组。不同的是，字符串不能被擦除，因为它是不可变的。在垃圾收集之前可能需要很长时间，在内容被覆盖之前可能需要更长的时间。

我认为选择不变性是为了允许共享字符串，它们很容易分裂。字符串赋值，选择子字符串变成了一个常数时间的操作，字符串比较也是，因为可重用的哈希码是字符串数据结构的一部分，可以首先进行比较。

从另一方面来说，如果原始字符串很大(比如大型XML文档)，那么从中选取少量符号可能会防止整个文档被垃圾收集。因此，后来的Java版本似乎远离了这种不变性。现代c++既有可变(std::string)版本，从c++ 17开始也有不可变(std::string_view)版本。

如果HELLO是你的字符串，那么你不能把HELLO改成HILLO。这个性质叫做不可变性。

你可以有多个指针字符串变量指向HELLO字符串。

但是如果HELLO是char Array，那么你可以将HELLO改为HILLO。例如,

char[] charArr = 'HELLO';
char[1] = 'I'; //you can do this

答:

编程语言具有不可变的数据变量，因此可以作为键、值对中的键使用。字符串变量用作键/索引，因此它们是不可变的。

字符串是不可变的有几个原因，这里是一个总结:

Security: parameters are typically represented as String in network connections, database connection urls, usernames/passwords etc. If it were mutable, these parameters could be easily changed. Synchronization and concurrency: making String immutable automatically makes them thread safe thereby solving the synchronization issues. Caching: when compiler optimizes your String objects, it sees that if two objects have same value (a="test", and b="test") and thus you need only one string object (for both a and b, these two will point to the same object). Class loading: String is used as arguments for class loading. If mutable, it could result in wrong class being loaded (because mutable objects change their state).

也就是说，String的不可变性只是意味着你不能使用它的公共API改变它。实际上，您可以使用反射绕过常规API。在这里看到答案。

在你的例子中，如果String是可变的，那么考虑下面的例子:

  String a="stack";
  System.out.println(a);//prints stack
  a.setValue("overflow");
  System.out.println(a);//if mutable it would print overflow

由于以下方面的设计、效率和安全性，Java开发人员决定字符串是不可变的。

Design Strings are created in a special memory area in java heap known as "String Intern pool". While you creating new String (Not in the case of using String() constructor or any other String functions which internally use the String() constructor for creating a new String object; String() constructor always create new string constant in the pool unless we call the method intern()) variable it searches the pool to check whether is it already exist. If it is exist, then return reference of the existing String object. If the String is not immutable, changing the String with one reference will lead to the wrong value for the other references.

根据DZone上的这篇文章:

Security String is widely used as parameter for many java classes, e.g. network connection, opening files, etc. Were String not immutable, a connection or file would be changed and lead to serious security threat. Mutable strings could cause security problem in Reflection too, as the parameters are strings. Efficiency The hashcode of string is frequently used in Java. For example, in a HashMap. Being immutable guarantees that hashcode will always the same, so that it can be cached without worrying the changes.That means, there is no need to calculate hashcode every time it is used.

恕我直言，这是最重要的原因:

字符串在Java中是不可变的，因为字符串对象缓存在 字符串池。由于缓存的字符串字面值在多个字符串之间共享 客户那里总有风险，一个客户的行动就会影响到 都是另一个客户。

参考:为什么字符串是不可变或最终在Java