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Re: <identifier> expected error

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On Friday, September 23, 2011 5:10:11 PM UTC-7, Roedy Green wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:10:58 -0700 (PDT), Lew <lewb...@gmail.com>
> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
> 
> >  public interface NumList {
> >    void printArray();
> >  }
> >
> >The coaching might have been phrased, "Method declarations must specify the return type, or 'void' if nothing is to be returned."
> >
> >So I don't see "executable code" in the declaration, but "method defined without return type".  Either way it needs to be fixed.
> 
> I think "executable code" is one of several ways of interpreting the
> error. 
> 
> printArray();
> 
> From a bottom up point of view looks to it like an attempt to invoke
> the method printArray() which may be undefined.
> 
> I agree though your interpretation of the error fits better with what
> the author intended.  Someday compilers might expend effort to decide
> how to interpret errors.  I wrote
> http://mindprod.com/jgloss/compileerrormessages.html
> to at least give programmers several alternate interpretations
> to choose from.

Actually, your interpretation was an eye-opener for me, Roedy.  You are exactly right - depending on how you approach the code it looks either like an uncompilable declaration or an uncompilable command.  It reminds me of the figure/ground optical illusion that appears to be a crone or a young lady depending on how your brain organizes what you see.

This can be very useful to the OP - I infer that her difficulty was the conflation of the two concepts, declaration and invocation, hence the ambiguity in the syntax.  If true, the insight is that declaration occurs in a different place from invocation.  You declare a method in an interface (or abstract class).  You both declare it with the signature and define it with a method body in the implementing class.  You invoke a method from inside (the body of) another method or constructor, which can be of the same class or another class.

Declare, define, invoke.

When you get further along in your studies, you'll see that as interface, implementing class, client method.

Good question and interesting insights from Roedy.

-- 
Lew

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<identifier> expected error Kathy Walker <kjata1013@gmail.com> - 2011-09-22 16:40 -0700
  Re: <identifier> expected error "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-09-22 20:54 -0400
    Re: <identifier> expected error Kathy Walker <kjata1013@gmail.com> - 2011-09-22 18:08 -0700
      Re: <identifier> expected error "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-09-22 21:24 -0400
  Re: <identifier> expected error Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-09-22 17:56 -0700
    Re: <identifier> expected error Kathy Walker <kjata1013@gmail.com> - 2011-09-22 18:09 -0700
  Re: <identifier> expected error Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-09-23 02:30 -0700
  Re: <identifier> expected error Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-09-23 02:32 -0700
    Re: <identifier> expected error Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 12:10 -0700
      Re: <identifier> expected error Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-09-23 17:10 -0700
        Re: <identifier> expected error Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-09-23 17:56 -0700
          Re: <identifier> expected error Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-09-25 00:13 -0700

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