The local variable might not have been initialized - Detect unchecked exception throw within a method

Question

I have some code with this structure:

public void method() {
    Object o;
    try {
        o = new Object();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        //Processi         


        

Answer 1

Since o is getting initialized within the try block and initializing o might throw an exception, java thinks that doSomething(o) statement might reach without o being initialized. So java wants o to be initialized incase new Object() throws exception.

So initializing o with null will fix the issue

public void method() {
    Object o = null;
    try {
        o = new Object(); //--> If new Object() throws exception then o remains uninitialized
    } catch (Exception e) {
        handleError();
    }
    if(o != null)
      doSomething(o);
}