The Quickest of Questions about constants

[Jose Campana]

Howdi there Java Master-minds !

I'm in the need to ask a simple question, but before, -a Disclaimer: I know there's a lot floating around the internet about "compile-time constants", But sometimes I have felt that too much Theory just contributes to shadow the practical knowledge.

And well, given that statement above, here goes my question. I hope you guys can help me.

For a variable to be used in a switch's case, Does it have to be marked final AND initialized to something? as in

final short caseVar = 12;

Am I correct in saying that it's just about those 2 conditions that must happen simultaneously, for it to be a Compile-time constant?

Good Luck,
your friend,
Jose

[Jim Yingst]

[Jose]: For a variable to be used in a switch's case, Does it have to be marked final AND initialized to something? as in

Yes, unless the variable is an enum value.

[Jose]: Am I correct in saying that it's just about those 2 conditions that must happen simultaneously, for it to be a Compile-time constant?

No. It's also necessary that (a) the variable be a primitive type or String, and (b) the variable must be initialized with a compile-time constant expression. So

public static final String javaVersion = System.getProperty("java.version");

is not a compile-time constant.
[ December 22, 2007: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[Jose Campana]

Hello Mr Jim,

Excuse my ignorance,

Would a compile-time constant expression be any value assigned to a primitive or String variable that isn't calculated at Runtime?

Am I correct?

Best Regards,
Jose

[Jim Yingst]

[Jose]: Would a compile-time constant expression be any value assigned to a primitive or String variable that isn't calculated at Runtime?

Almost. The only exception I can think of is null - which is a value that can be determined at compile time, but isn't considered a compile-time constant expression. In any event, I'm not sure how useful this rule is, since then you need to know: which types of expressions are calculated during runtime, and which at compile time? I recommend studying the rules in JLS 15.28 for further details.

[Jose Campana]

Hiya,

Sure, I'll take a look at it. thanks for the replies.
As always, If there's any further comments please let me know.

Good Luck,

Jose