how to answer "compile error on line ##"?

[Vad Fogel]

K&B, p. 484:

Given the following,
1.public class TestObj {
2. public static void main (String [] args) {
3. Object o = new Object() {
4. public boolean equals(Object obj) {
5. return true;
6. }
7. }
8. System.out.println(o.equals("Fred"));
9. }
10.}

what is the result?
A. An exception occurs at runtime.
B. true
C. fred
D. Compilation fails because of an error on line 3.
E. Compilation fails because of an error on line 4.
F. Compilation fails because of an error on line 8.
G. Compilation fails because of an error on a line other than 3, 4, or 8.

The correct answer is G. I selected F and that was wrong. Here's the 1.4.2 compiler listing:

TestObj.java [B][8:1][/B] ';' expected
 System.out.println(o.equals("Fred"));
 ^
1 error
Errors compiling TestObj.

Should we assume based on
Famous Error thread
that such questions on the real exam will be less ambiguous?

[Kathy Sierra]

Howdy --
Actually, this IS the "famous error thread" question
So yes, you can completely relax about questions like this on the real exam. The exam has been pounded on enough by now (almost as much as our book has ) that any thing that is *truly* ambiguous is now gone. I say *truly* become there are some questions that may *appear* ambiguous if you aren't looking at the right thing, but they really aren't.
cheers,
Kathy

[Vad Fogel]

Thank you very much Kathy for this very quick response!