Develop Reference

Variable in for loop is giving a message that "The value of the local variable i is not used"

I wrote a for loop that is supposed to determine if there is user input. If there is, it sets the 6 elements of int[] valueArr to the input, a vararg int[] statValue. If there is no input, it sets all elements equal to -1.
if (statValue.length == 6) {
for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
valueArr[i] = statValue[i];
}
} else {
for (int i : valueArr) {
i = -1;
}
}
I am using Visual Studio Code, and it is giving me a message in for (int i : valueArr) :
"The value of the local variable i is not used."
That particular for loop syntax is still new to me, so I may be very well blind, but it was working in another file:
for(int i : rollResults) {
sum = sum + i;
}
I feel that I should also mention that the for loop giving me trouble is in a private void method. I'm still fairly new and just recently started using private methods. I noticed the method would give the same message when not used elsewhere, but I do not see why it would appear here.
I tried closing and reopening Visual Studio Code, deleting and retyping the code, and other forms of that. In my short experience, I've had times where I received errors and messages that should not be there and fixed them with what I mentioned, but none of that worked here.

for (int i : valueArr) {
.... CODE HERE ...
}
This sets up a loop which will run CODE HERE a certain number of times. Inside this loop, at the start of every loop, an entirely new variable is created named i, containing one of the values in valueArr. Once the loop ends this variable is destroyed. Notably, i is not directly the value in valueArr - modifying it does nothing - other than affect this one loop if you use i later in within the block. It does not modify the contents of valueArr.
Hence why you get the warning: i = -1 does nothing - you change what i is, and then the loop ends, which means i goes away and your code hasn't changed anything or done anything, which surely you didn't intend. Hence, warning.
It's not entirely clear what you want to do here. If you intend to set all values in valueArr to -1, you want:
for (int i = 0; i < valueArr.length; i++) valueArr[i] = -1;
Or, actually, you can do that more simply:
Arrays.fill(valueArr, -1);
valueArr[i] = -1 changes the value of the i-th value in the valueArr array to -1. for (int i : valueArr) i = -1; does nothing.

Java - printing a variable that was declared inside an if statement

So I'm trying to declare an integer variable inside an if/else statement, and print it out, outside of it. Something like this:
int x;
int a = 1;
if (a == 1)
{
int x = 5;
}
System.out.println(x);
This is just an example of what I'm trying to do, as I don't have the actual code with me, and i don't want to redo it all over. Although it shouldn't matter really, as the example is exactly what i need, only with different variable values and names (but it's still an integer). At first i just declared and initialised the variable inside the if/else statement, but then I was told I need to declare it outside the statement... So I did that, then initialised it within the statement, and then proceeded to call on it later on. However I'm still getting an error, either it says the variable hasn't been initialised, or if I assign a value to it (x) then update it inside the statement, the error i get is that it has already been declared. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Yes. Local variables needs to be initialize before they use. Where as instance variables initialize to default values if you didn't initialize them before use.
If you are curious about the reason? click here to know
Coming back to your question again,
Because consider the below scenario
Follow comments.
int x; // declared with no value
int a = 0;
if (a == 1) // this is false
{
x = 5; // this never executed
}
System.out.println(x); // what you are expecting to print here ?
Hence you need to initialize with a value. For ex : initialize it with zero and change it later on based on a condition
int x=0;
int a = 1;
if (a == 1)
{
x = 5;
}
System.out.println(x);

Simply assign the int x = 0 before your if-statement, then instead of redeclaring x as an integer equal to 5, set x equal to 5 inside your if statement.

The point is that you declared x above. So remove int before x inside the if-statement. Then it works.
int x;
int a = 1;
if (a == 1) {
x = 5;
}
System.out.println(x);
Implicitly an integer is initiated with 0. If you want to be sure just write
int x = 0;
your code here

int x = -1;
int a = 1;
if (a == 1)
{ // here begins inner 'area' for declared variables
x = 5;
}// and here ends
System.out.println(x);
OK, my bad! I wanted him to wonder why and try some other ways of writting it and letting him get 'hit' by IDE errors.
So Mr. Unknown as far as you declare variable 'inside' if statement it is visible only across that statement! So basicly if You want to do something with variable inside if statement, and have results outside of it, You need to declare it outside the statement making it having wider range of accessibility! If You have any questions don't hesitate to ask ;)
P.S. Watch out for re-declaring variable with the same name like You tried to do here, it's nasty bug to find =)

Thank you all for the answers, I realized I made 2 minor mistakes that didnt allow it to work, I (in most attempts) didn't declare a value for x before the if statement, and I had 'int' in front of x inside the if statement, which caused the re-deceleration error. So yea, thank you for the quick answers :)

Why this for statement shows Dead code in Java?

In this class, I defined a constructor that initializes an array and fill it with Point2D.Double. I want to define a toString method that outputs the Point2D.Double in the array. So inside the toString method, I make a for loop that returns every Point2D.Double in the array. The problem is, I don't know why Eclipse tells me that the update in the for statement is dead code.
import java.awt.geom.Point2D;
public class SimplePolygon {
public int n; // number of vertices of the polygon
public Point2D.Double[] vertices; // vertices[0..n-1] around the polygon
// boundary
public SimplePolygon(int size) {
n = size;
vertices = new Point2D.Double[n]; // creates array with n size. Elements are doubles.
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
Point2D.Double point = new Point2D.Double(Math.random() * 6, Math.random() * 6);
vertices[i] = point;
}
}
public String toString() {
for(int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++)
{
return "" + vertices[i];
}
return "";
}

I too was puzzled by this. (And the other answers!) So I cut-and-pasted it into Eclipse to see what it actually says.
And what Eclipse is actually says is that i++ is unreachable in this line.
for(int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++)
And in fact, that is correct! If you ever enter the loop body, the body will unconditionally return. Hence the i++ can never be executed.
Note also that this is a warning not an error. This code is not invalid according to the JLS rules about unreachability.
You are right to be puzzled by the other explanations. The final return statement is reachable. Consider the case where the class is instantiated with a negative value for n (or size). In that case, the for loop body will never be executed, and control will go to the final return.
However, their suggestions as to how to fix the problem are correct. You should not have a return in the loop body.

The problem is because of the return statement in the for loop. Remember, whenever you use return, you immediately end the method and stop running any code. That means that your toString method will loop exactly only once, returning only vertices[0]. The second return below the loop never has a chance to execute, so is considered dead code.
This is actually incorrect! See Stephan's answer for a better/accurate explanation of what's going on.
Regardless, you still need to fix your code. Instead of returning something inside the loop, you probably want to combine the values and return them all at once at the very end. An easy way to do this might be:
public String toString() {
String output = "";
for(int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++)
{
output += vertices[i] + " ";
}
return output;
}
Now, instead of returning immediately, we're accumulating values in the loop and returning at the very end.
(Note that the code here isn't very efficient -- you'd probably want to use something like String.join or StringBuilder instead, but if you're a beginner, this works for now)

2D advice for nullpointer exception

I apologize in advance, I am a java noob.
I have this in a statement
if(a==0 && b<4)
{
value = ((elev[a][b]-elev[a+1][b])*0.00001* double "variable" ) ;
}
So my main question is would the following....
(elev[a][b]-elev[a+1][b])
return an int value (assuming that the array was initialized and populated with int values, and that for a==0 and b<4 none of the references are null.
Sorry in advance if this is silly. Please don't feel inclined to comment, but help would be appreciated. I haven't done a lot of this java stuff.
When i populated the array, I printed it's contents to make sure I was populating correctly, and everything is where it should be...
Alas, I get a null pointer error wherever that (elev[a][b] - elev[a+1][b]) is first referenced....yet i know that the values are being put there.
Next question. When i populate an array, if i want to reference the values,
while(input.hasNextInt())
{
elev[i][j] = input.nextInt(); <-- this is how i was doing it
}
of elev[][]... do i need to say
elev[i][j] = new input.nextInt();
or is how i was doing it sufficient. When i populated an ArrayList from a file I had to use the "new" prefix So i was trying to figure out why i would get a null there.
Like i said I did print the array after reading it from the file and it printed out everything was in its place.
Thanks everyone.
EDIT
ok sorry for simplicity sake i didn't put in the actual code of "value"
it is actually
double randKg = getRandKg(avgKgNitrogen[z]);
double gradient = 0.00001
double under = ((randKg *(elev[a][b] - elev[a+1][b]) * gradient));
2nd Edit
This is the code for how i populated.
try{
File file = new File(filename);
Scanner input = new Scanner(file);
int rows = 30;
int columns = 10;
int elev[][] = new int[30][10];
for(int i = 0; i < rows; ++i){
for(int j = 0; j < columns; ++j)
{
while(input.hasNextInt())
{
elev[i][j] = input.nextInt();
}
}
}
input.close();
}
catch (java.io.FileNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("Error opening "+filename+", ending program");
System.exit(1);
}
3rd edit
So i am getting the null pointer here.....
(elev[a][b] - elev[a+1][b]) > 0 )
Which is why i originally asked. I have printed the array before when i populated and everything is where it should be.

You are getting a null pointer exception because double "variable" does not indicate to any integer or double value. Compiler is just trying to convert String 'variable' into double which is not possible. So, try eliminating the Double Quotes from "variable". Moreover you have not declared the data type of value variable.

Ignoring other problems in your code (covered by other answers), here's about your actual question:
If the code
if(a==0 && b<4) {
value = (elev[a][b] - elev[a+1][b]);
}
crashes with NullPointerException, it means elev is null. Assuming a and b are of type int, then there is no other way this can generate that exception (array out of bounds exception would be different). There are two options for the cause:
You execute above code before you do int elev[][] = new int[30][10];, so that elev still has the initial null value.
elev in the crashing line is a different variable than elev in initialization shown in the question.
And in you code, it seems to be 2. You create local elev in the initialization. It goes out of scope and is forgotten. You probably should have this initialization line in your method:
elev = new int[30][10];
And then you should have a class member variable instead of local variable in a method:
private int[][] elev;

beginner java, help me fix my program?

I am trying to make a calculator for college gpa's. I cut out all like 20 if statements that just say what each letter grade is. I fixed my first program for anybody looking at this again. The program now works, but regardless of the letters i type in the gpa it returns is a 2.0 . If anybody sees anything wrong it would be very much appreciated...again. Thanks
import java.util.Scanner;
public class universityGPA {
public static void main(String args[]){
int classes = 4;
int units[] = {3, 2, 4, 4};
double[] grade = new double[4];
double[] value= new double[4];
int counter = 0;
double total = 0;
double gpa;
String letter;
while(classes > counter){
Scanner gradeObject = new Scanner(System.in);
letter = gradeObject.next();
if(letter.equalsIgnoreCase("A+") || letter.equalsIgnoreCase("A")){
grade[counter] = 4;
}
if(letter.equalsIgnoreCase("F")){
grade[counter] = 0;
}
value[counter] = grade[counter] * units[counter];
counter++;
}
for(int i = 0; i < classes; i++ ){
total += value[i];
}
gpa = total/classes;
System.out.println("You gpa is " +gpa);
}
}

You forgot to initialize grade. The NullPointerException is telling you that grade is null. The exception is thrown the first time you try to use grade, in the statment grade[counter] = 4;. Allocate as much space as you need with new.

Initialization of grade can be done statically as well dynamically:
double []grade = new double[4];
or
double []grade = new double[classes];
Do the same for value as well.

Here are a few pointers for cleaning up your code:
Try to be more consistent with your formatting. Make sure everything is properly indented and that you don't have lingering spaces at the beginnings or endings of lines (line 18).
You should declare variables as close to the first spot you use them as possible. This, along with making your code much more readable, minimizes the scope. For instance, on line 18, you initialize letter, but it is never used outside the scope of the while statement. You should declare the variable right there, along with the initializer (String letter = gradeObject.next()).
Declaring arrays in the type name[] form is discouraged. It is recommended to use the type[] name form instead.
Try to separate your program into distinguished sections. For instance, for this program, you can clearly see a few steps are involved. Namely, you first must grab some input, then parse it, then calculate the return value. These sections can be factored out into separate methods to clean up the code and promote reuse. While it may not seem to yield many benefits for such a simple program, once you start working on larger problems this organization will be absolutely mandatory.

NullPointerException means you are trying to access something that does not exist.
Since your grade[] is null, accessing it on line 21 by grade[counter] actually means you are accessing something that has yet to be created.
You need to initialize the array, so it actually has an instance.