Method Local Inner Class

[Phal Ach]

Hi. Below is from geekevaluation.com, regarding method local inner class. I know that final variables of methods can only be accessed by its method local inner class. Then why not in below mentioned code?

public class etattva101 {        
public static void main(String[] args) {            
final int a;    // Line 1            
final int b;    // Line 2          
b=10;           // Line 3            
class MethodLocalClass {                    
a=19;  //Line 4                                  
}                
}
}

Here 'a' is a final variable. Still at Line 4, there is a compiler error. Somebody please give me a proper explanation for this. Thanks.

[Ralph Jaus]

There are two mistakes:

1. Within a class definition only declarations of variables, methods, blocks, etc. are allowed, but no statements like "a = 19;". The follwing example will help:

class A{
  int a = 3; 
  a = 4;     // -> compiler error 
}

2. You can't assign a value to a final variable within a local class.

The following would work:

public class etattva101 {        
public static void main(String[] args) {            
final int a = 19;    // Line 1            
final int b;    // Line 2          
b=10;           // Line 3 
           
class MethodLocalClass {
 
                   { System.out.println(a); } 
 
                   int f(){ return a; }
                    
}                
}
}

[ July 08, 2008: Message edited by: Ralph Jaus ]

[Phal Ach]

Looks good Ralph. Thanks