Subgoals

The code block can be broken into 2 kinds of statements. The first two lines are the declaration statements, followed by additional assignments.

In the first line, alpha, beta, and gamma are all declared as int type variables.

Similarly, in the second line, omega, theta, and lambda are declared as double type variables.

Integers are whole numbers and doubles contain a decimal point and may contain fractional values.

alpha = 42; the value on the RHS of the assignment statement is 42 which is a literal integer (whole number) value.

beta = 1; the value on the RHS of the assignment statement is 1 which is a literal integer (whole number) value.

omega = 2.5; the value on the RHS of the assignment statement is 2.5 which is a literal double (fractional number) value.

theta = 4; the value on the RHS of the assignment statement is 4 which is a literal integer (whole number) value.

gamma = 0.0; the value on the RHS of the assignment statement is 0.0 which is a literal double (fractional number) value.

What about lambda? What is it’s value? Because there is no assignment to the variable, its content is considered “unknown” or “garbage,” and it must be assigned before you could use lambda in another expression. In the Java specification, certain values like array contents, class variables, and instance variables are given default values like 0 or 0.0, but in our example, lambda and the others are all local variables which must be given values before their use. Some compilers, for simplicity, will give local variables the same default initializations, but it would be unwise to rely on this behavior that does not match the Java specification.

alpha = 42; alpha has been declared as an integer and the data type of the expression on the RHS is an integer, so the value 42 can be copied into the alpha variable (the statement is valid). alpha now has the value 42.

beta = 1; beta has been declared as an integer and the data type of the expression on the RHS is an integer, so the value 1 can be copied into the beta variable (the statement is valid). beta now has the value 1.

omega = 2.5; omega has been declared as a double and the data type of the expression on the RHS is a double, so the value 2.5 can be copied into the omega variable (the statement is valid). omega now has the value 2.5.

theta = 4; theta has been declared as a double and the data type of the expression on the RHS is an integer. We can convert an integer into a decimal by simply adding “.0” to the value. The numeric value of any integer is not changed when converted to a decimal. The process of the computer adding the .0 to an int to convert it into a double is known as promotion, and is done automatically. This statement is valid. theta now has the value 4.0.

gamma = 0.0; gamma has been declared as an int and the data type of the expression on the RHS is a double. A double cannot be assigned to an integer variable and there is no automatic process to convert it. This results in a compilation error (incompatible types). If you copy the original code block into the runnable ActiveCode box, you can see the exact compilation error.

What about lambda? What is its value? Because there is no assignment to the variable, its content is considered “unknown” or “garbage,” and it must be assigned before you could use lambda in another expression. In the Java specification, certain values like array contents, class variables, and instance variables are given default values like 0 or 0.0, but in our example, lambda and the others are all local variables which must be given values before their use. Some compilers, for simplicity, will give local variables the same default initializations, but it would be unwise to rely on this behavior that does not match the Java specification.