Variable might not have been initialized

RESOLVED: So I have this code that returns the highest payed employee. But it wont compile and I get the error message, 'variable employee might not have been initialized'.

Code :

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    /**
     * Locates and returns the employee that earned the most
     * @return Employee object that earned the most
     */
    public Employee highestPayedEmployee()
    {
        double leastAmount = 0.0;
        Employee employee;
 
        for(Employee e : employeeList){
            if(leastAmount <= e.calculateMonthlyPay()){
                leastAmount = e.calculateMonthlyPay();
                employee = e;
            }
        }
 
        return employee;
    }

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So then I tried putting the definition of that variable in the if statement, but I get the error, cannot find symbol - variable employee. I'm guessing because since its in the if statement it may not actually reach it. So I just tried putting it outside the if statement in the for loop, like this for testing purposes:

Code :

---

    public Employee highestPayedEmployee()
    {
        double leastAmount = 0.0;
       // Employee employee;
 
        for(Employee e : employeeList){
            if(leastAmount <= e.calculateMonthlyPay()){
                leastAmount = e.calculateMonthlyPay();
            }
            Employee employee = e;
        }
 
        return employee;
    }

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Then I get that error again, cannot find symbol - variable employee.
So the only option to make this work at all was to do this..

Code :

---

    public Employee highestPayedEmployee()
    {
        if(!employeeList.isEmpty()){
           double leastAmount = 0.0;
           Employee employee = employeeList.get(0);
 
           for(Employee e : employeeList){
               if(leastAmount <= e.calculateMonthlyPay()){
                   leastAmount = e.calculateMonthlyPay();
                   employee = e;
               }
           }
        }
        return employee;
    }

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Is this the correct way to be doing this? It seems an odd way to do it, I got stuck on a test trying to figure this out!
Thanks :)

Stick with your original code. The error is happening because local variables do not have a default value. So what should the method return if employeeList is empty?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

Stick with your original code. The error is happening because local variables do not have a default value. So what should the method return if employeeList is empty?

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It won't actually compile if I use that code. Or the second code.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JavaGirl9001

It won't actually compile if I use that code. Or the second code.

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I know. I'm telling you what the error message means. I actually don't think any of your code compiles.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

I know. I'm telling you what the error message means. I actually don't think any of your code compiles.

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Shouldn't it return null? and yes the last one works correctly

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JavaGirl9001

Shouldn't it return null?

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No, like I said, local variables do not have a default value, including null. If you want the default value to be null, you have to set it as such.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JavaGirl9001

and yes the last one works correctly

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If that code works correctly, then you have another variable named employee that is outside of the code you posted. Chances are that's not what you want.

Thanks!

I set it to null and now it works. I didn't know they didn't have default values, I was always wondering why I got these funny little errors.

Thank you :)

It's a pretty common mistake. For more information, default values (or lack thereof) are covered in the basic tutorials: Primitive Data Types (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Language Basics)