unname coder's blog

One of my kids is taking Java in high school and had this on one of his tests: Which of the following is a valid identifier in Java? a. 123java b. main c. java1234 d. {abce e. )whoot He answered b and got it wrong. I looked at the question and argued that main is a valid identifier and that it should have been right. We took a look at the Java spec for identifiers and it reinforced that point. We also wrote a sample program that had a variable called main, as well as a method. He created a written rebuttal that included the Java documentation reference, the test program and the teacher ignored it and says the answer is still incorrect. Is the main a valid identifier? public class J { public static void main(String[] args) { String main = "The character sequence \"main\" is an identifier, not a keyword or reserved word."; System.out.println(main); } } This compiles, and when executed, emits thi...

One of my kids is taking Java in high school and had this on one of his tests: Which of the following is a valid identifier in Java? a. 123java b. main c. java1234 d. {abce e. )whoot He answered b and got it wrong. I looked at the question and argued that main is a valid identifier and that it should have been right. We took a look at the Java spec for identifiers and it reinforced that point. We also wrote a sample program that had a variable called main, as well as a method. He created a written rebuttal that included the Java documentation reference, the test program and the teacher ignored it and says the answer is still incorrect. Is the main a valid identifier? public class J { public static void main(String[] args) { String main = "The character sequence "main" is an identifier, not a keyword or reserved word."; System.out.println(main); } } This compiles, and when executed, emits this ...