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From: Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject: Re: Assignment or Initialization?
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 14:47:58 -0500
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On 2/1/2016 2:03 PM, 4ndre4 wrote:
> On 01/02/2016 12:23, Stefan Ram wrote:
>
> [...]
>> final int i;
>> i = 3;
>
> This is illegal.
>
> final int i = 3;
>
> is the correct form: initialization. You can't declare a final variable
> and THEN assign a value to it, unless you are in a constructor, in which
> case it's still an initialization.

     What you say is true (I think) if `i' is a class member.
But it's untrue for local variables, where constructs like

             final boolean leftClick;
             switch (mouseEvent.getButton()) {
                case MouseEvent.BUTTON1:
                   leftClick = true;
                   break;
                case MouseEvent.BUTTON3:
                   leftClick = false;
                   break;
                default:
                   // Unidentifiable mouse button: Ignore.
                   return;
             }

... work exactly as one would expect: `leftClick' is given only
one value and is thereafter immutable, but the value comes from one
of two (in this case) assignment statements.

     Whether this is counts as an "assignment" or as an "initialization"
is not something I lose sleep over.

-- 
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
"Don't be afraid of work. Make work afraid of you." -- TLM