John Hunt's Mock Exam: Q61

[Jim Crawford]

Q. 61
Consider the following program:

public class Test { public static void main (String args []) { boolean a = false; if (a = true)
 System.out.println("Hello");
Else
 System.out.println("Goodbye");
}
}

What is the result:
A. Program produces no output but terminates correctly.
B. Program does not terminate.
C. Prints out "Hello"
D. Prints out "Goodbye"
Select the most appropriate answer.

This code will not compile, and the suggested answer is C.

PS. I see this forum is not really used. If I don't get a reply I'll post in SCJP forum.

[Jim Crawford]

Guess the fact that its wrong is a given. Pity this forum is not up to date.
Thought I'd find all wrong mock answers here.

[Maurice Hou]

"Else" should be "else".
I can comlile it and output is "Hello".
"if(a = true)" is always true.

[Valentin Crettaz]

Jim, as limoki said, the only mistake I can see here is a typo on "Else" which should read "else" instead, but that's all. The code is otherwise correct and the correct answer is C.
Pay special attention to statements like
if(a = true)
which is not the same as
if(a == true)
In the former, the condition will always be true since the boolean variable a is assigned true anf the whole expression evaluates to a's value, that is true.
limoki,
Welcome to Javaranch
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[ September 19, 2002: Message edited by: Valentin Crettaz ]