Trouble with a code segment in Java

Question

 

What's wrong with the following code segment?

final double TAX_RATE = 0.08;

TAX_RATE = 0.0875;

 

This question is confusing. When I copy this into my Java IDE, it can't compile and i'm left with an error "Cannot assign value to final variable TAX_RATE"

Answer 1

In case you're unable to find a clear answer to what "final" means, here's a [hopefully] simple breakdown of why the code won't compile.

 

The variable is marked as final by having the keyword "final" in front of it. This means you may only assign the value one time at most, and never again. On the first line, you assigned a value of "0.08", and on the next line you tried to re-assign it a value of "0.0875". If you want to be able to re-assign a variable's value, you simply need to remove the word "final" in front.