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From: Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.help
Subject: Re: <identifier> expected error
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:56:25 -0700 (PDT)
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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 :
>=20
> >  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.
>=20
> I think "executable code" is one of several ways of interpreting the
> error.=20
>=20
> printArray();
>=20
> From a bottom up point of view looks to it like an attempt to invoke
> the method printArray() which may be undefined.
>=20
> 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 exa=
ctly 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 con=
flation of the two concepts, declaration and invocation, hence the ambiguit=
y in the syntax.  If true, the insight is that declaration occurs in a diff=
erent place from invocation.  You declare a method in an interface (or abst=
ract class).  You both declare it with the signature and define it with a m=
ethod 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, i=
mplementing class, client method.

Good question and interesting insights from Roedy.

--=20
Lew