class level error : expected in java

Question

when I am coding this at class level

int a;
a=5;

it throws error : \"identifier expected\"

But when I declare it as a local variable li

Answer 1

The reason following:

int a=5;

declared at class level does not produce compile time error when:

void m1() {
    int a;
    a=5;
}

is declared because m1() has its own scope.

For instance, if don't declare and access variable a, it would refer to class's field, where as when you declare a locally, you'd always refer to one declared inside a.

PS : You cannot do following at class level:

int a;
a=5;

You'd have to:

int a=5;