Variable naming convention

[Unpredictable]

Can any one tell me why variable names in Java should not begin with a
digit?

 

[Thomas Schodt]

Can any one tell me why variable names in Java should not begin with a
digit?

0L, 1F, 2D

how would the compiler be able to tell if those are supposed to be
primitive literals or variables?

 

[NullBock]

How would java compilers otherwise know if a string of characters was a
number or a variable? Even if you insisted that variables have at
least one non-digit, you'd still have problems:

1D

Is that a number or a variable?


Walter Gildersleeve
Freiburg, Germany

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[Malte Christensen]

Can any one tell me why variable names in Java should not begin with a
digit?

From java.sun.com:


You must explicitly provide a name and a type for each variable you want
to use in your program. The variable's name must be a legal identifier
(in the glossary) — an unlimited-length sequence of Unicode characters
that begins with a letter. You use the variable name to refer to the
data that the variable contains.

That's why.

 

[Roedy Green]

Can any one tell me why variable names in Java should not begin with a
digit?

1. that's the language rule.

2. the compiler will reject a name beginning with a digit.

3. it would have been ambiguous for strings like 0D and 0x00 and 23L
if you allowed those strings to represent both literals and variable
names.