Java 6 Illuminated: An Active Learning Approach, 2nd Edition

5.3 Selection Using if/else 223

Note that we could have used two sequential if statements, as in:

if ( grade >= 60 )

message = “You passed”;

if ( grade < 60 )

message = “You failed “;

However, if the first condition, (grade >= 60), is false, the second condition,

(grade < 60), must be true. So an if/else simplifies our processing and avoids

unnecessarily testing two conditions when only one of the conditions can

be true.

Block Scope

The scope of a variable is the region within a program where the variable

can be referenced, or used. When we declare a variable, its scope extends

from the point at which it is declared until the end of the block in which we ...