why compiler treats for loop as incorrect

[somashaker goud]

Below code works fine

 public char calculate(){
        int sum=0;
        char grade='A';
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
            sum=sum+testScores[i];
        }
        if(sum/testScores.length >=90)
            grade='O';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=80)
            grade='E';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=70)
            grade='A';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=55)
            grade='P';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=40)
            grade='D';
        else
            grade='T';
        
        return grade;
    }

but if remove initialisation for grade I am getting an error.

 public char calculate(){
        int sum=0;
        char grade=' ';
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
            sum=sum+testScores[i];
        }
        if(sum/testScores.length >=90)
            grade='O';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=80)
            grade='E';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=70)
            grade='A';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=55)
            grade='P';
        else if(sum/testScores.length >=40)
            grade='D';
        else
            grade='T';
        
        return grade;
    }

Solution.java:48: error: empty character literal
        char grade='';
                   ^
Solution.java:48: error: unclosed character literal
        char grade='';
                    ^
Solution.java:48: error: ';' expected
        char grade='';
                      ^
Solution.java:49: error: ')' expected
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
               ^
Solution.java:49: error: > expected
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
                                       ^
Solution.java:49: error: not a statement
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
                     ^
Solution.java:49: error: ';' expected
        for(int i=0;i<testScores.length;i++){
                                           ^
7 errors

I understand that char cannot be empty but why its showing errors in for loop

[Henry Wong]

somashaker goud wrote:
I understand that char cannot be empty but why its showing errors in for loop

Basically, once the compiler finds an error, it has to move on and find the next error. The problem with moving on and finding the next error, is that it is an error situation. The developer made a mistake, and all the compiler knows is that it is not conforming to specification. It can only guess on the mistake itself -- and hence, guess on where the mistake ends.

This is why you should always work on the first few compiler errors. Compilation errors that appear later may be false positives. And also, some compilation errors that "appear" later may not even be found.

Henry

[Carey Brown]

The compiler is complaining about an empty character literal. This means that you have two single quotes back to back without a character in between them. Your second listing shows a single space between them so I'm assuming that you removed that prior to compiling.