[go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd
Upload
177 views6 pages

Managing Complexity: Scope

The document discusses scope in Java programs. It defines scope as the part of the program where a variable is valid to use. Java keeps scope as small as possible to reduce complexity. For loops scope is the loop itself. Other variables scope extends from the declaration to the matching curly brace. There are examples showing the scope of different variables and errors that can occur from variables used outside their scope.

Uploaded by

Ameya Varma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
177 views6 pages

Managing Complexity: Scope

The document discusses scope in Java programs. It defines scope as the part of the program where a variable is valid to use. Java keeps scope as small as possible to reduce complexity. For loops scope is the loop itself. Other variables scope extends from the declaration to the matching curly brace. There are examples showing the scope of different variables and errors that can occur from variables used outside their scope.

Uploaded by

Ameya Varma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

AP Computer Science

Managing Complexity
Scope
The scope of a variable is defined as the part of the program in which the
variable is valid (where you are allowed to use it). Java has rules to keep
scope as small as possible, because this usually makes programs less
complex.

For for loops, the scope is relatively straightforward: any variable declared
in the initialize part of the for loop is valid only inside the for loop itself.

Determining the scope of other variable declarations requires more


processing:
● Work backward from the variable declaration to find the first left curly
brace symbol “{ ”, then find the matching right curly brace “ }”.
● The variable’s scope is the section of the Java program starting at the
variable declaration and ending at the right curly brace you just found.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


AP Computer Science

There are some important rules about scope:


● Attempting to use the variable outside of the variable’s scope is in an
error.
● It is also an error to use a variable from one method in a different
method, even if the second method was called from inside the
variable’s scope.
● You can’t have two variables with the same name with overlapping
scope.
● You can have two variables with the same name as long as their
scopes don’t overlap.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


AP Computer Science
Exercise 1. Identifying Scope
For the following exercises, we’ll be working with this program:

public class ScopePractice {


public static void fancyMethod() {
int d = 7;
System.out.println("d is " + d);
}

public static void main(String[] args) {


int c = 10;
fancyMethod();
int b = 100;
System.out.println("c is " + c);
anotherFancyMethod();
System.out.println("b is " + b);
}

public static void anotherFancyMethod() {


int a = 1;
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
int e = 42;
System.out.println("e is " + e);
}
System.out.println("a is " + a);
}
}

Problem 1a.
Draw a box around the scope of the variable a and label the box.

Problem 1b.
Draw a box around the scope of the variable b and label the box.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


AP Computer Science
Problem 1c.
Draw a box around the scope of the variable c and label the box.

Problem 1d.
Draw a box around the scope of the variable d and label the box.

Problem 1e.
Draw a box around the scope of the variable e and label the box.

Problem 1f.
What is the output of this program? Write it below.

Exercise 2. Identifying Scope Errors

Each of the following code samples has exactly one scope error. Find the
error and write down why it is an error (what rule of scope it breaks.)

Problem 2a.

public static void main(String[] args) {


for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
int squared = i * i;
System.out.println(i + " squared is " +
squared);
}
System.out.println("The last one was " + squared);
}

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


AP Computer Science
Problem 2b.

public static void interestingMethod() {


int x = 1;
int y = 2;
multiplyPlease();
}

public static void multiplyPlease() {


System.out.println("x times y is " + (x * y));
}

Problem 2c.

public static void main(String[] args) {


System.out.println("About to do the
computation!");
doComputation();
System.out.println(
"The result of the computation is " + x);
}

public static void doComputation() {


int x = 1;
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
x += 3;
x *= 2;
}
}

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


AP Computer Science
Problem 2d.

public static void scopeIsFun() {


int i = 0;
System.out.println("Let's get started.");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println("My favorite number is " +
i);
}
System.out.println(
"I guess I have a lot of favorite numbers!");
}

Problem 2e.

public static void almostDone() {


int i = 0;
for (j = 0; j < 10; j++) {
System.out.println(
"My favorite number is still " + j);
}
System.out.println(
"I guess I still have a lot of favorite
numbers!");
}

Problem 2f.

public static void finallyTheLastProblemHooray() {


System.out.println("I guess the answer is " + x);
int x = 42;
}

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-



NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

You might also like