I am a beginner, and I can not figure out why I am receiving this compiling error?

Question

I am a student who has just started programming (I am 1 and 1/2 weeks in), so please excuse me for my terrible code, I have not learned much yet.

I am writing this program to calculate how many days there are in till the user's next birthday, but am receiving a "cannot find symbol" error when I try to call my variables absolutepday, absolutebday, absolutepmonth, and absolutbmonth in my final method. I know this error involves scope, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to fix this error.

I have read the other posts for this compiling error, but I still am not able to figure it out.

I would greatly appreciate if someone could simply tell me exactly how to fix this problem and explain why this is happened.

Here is my code:

import java.util.Scanner;

public class BirthdayProject
{
    //programs purpose
    public static void initialstatement()
    {
         System.out.println("This program tells you how many days\nit will be until your next birthday.");
         System.out.println();
    }
    //calculate absolute day of the year of todays date
    public static int todaysdate()
    {
        int absolutepday = 0;
        
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        System.out.println("Please enter today's date:");
        
        System.out.print("What is the month (1-12)? ");
        int pmonth= input.nextInt();
        
        System.out.print("What is the day   (1-31)? ");
        int pday= input.nextInt();      
        
        if (pmonth == 1)
        absolutepday = pday;
        else if (pmonth == 2)
        absolutepday = 31 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 3)
        absolutepday = 59 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 4)
        absolutepday = 90 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 5)
        absolutepday = 120 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 6)
        absolutepday = 151 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 7)
        absolutepday = 181 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 8)
        absolutepday = 212 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 9)
        absolutepday = 243 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 10)
        absolutepday = 273 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 11)
        absolutepday = 304 + pday;
        else if (pmonth == 12)
        absolutepday = 334 + pday;
       System.out.println(pmonth + "/" + pday + " is day #" + absolutepday + " of 365");
        System.out.println();
        
       return absolutepday;
    }
    //calculate absolute day of the year of the users birthday
    public static int birthdaydate()
    {
        int absolutebday = 0;

        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        System.out.println("Please enter your birthday:");
        
        System.out.print("What is the month (1-12)? ");
        int bimonth= input.nextInt();
        
        System.out.print("What is the day   (1-30)? ");
        int biday= input.nextInt();
        
        if (bimonth == 1)
        absolutebday = biday;
        else if (bimonth == 2)
        absolutebday = 31 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 3)
        absolutebday = 59 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 4)
        absolutebday = 90 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 5)
        absolutebday = 120 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 6)
        absolutebday = 151 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 7)
        absolutebday = 181 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 8)
        absolutebday = 212 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 9)
        absolutebday = 243 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 10)
        absolutebday = 273 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 11)
        absolutebday = 304 + biday;
        else if (bimonth == 12)
        absolutebday = 334 + biday;
        
        System.out.println(bimonth + "/" + biday +" is day #" + absolutebday + " of 365.");
        System.out.println();
        
        return absolutebday;
    }
    //calculate how many days intill the users next birthday
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        initialstatement();
        todaysdate();
        birthdaydate();

        int absolutedaystillbday = (absolutepday-absolutebday)+(absolutepmonth-absolutebmonth);
        if (absolutedaystillbday == 0)
        System.out.println("Happy Birthday!");
        else if (absolutedaystillbday == 1)
        System.out.println("Wow, your birthday is tomorrow!");
        else if (absolutedaystillbday > 0)
        System.out.println("Your next birthday is in " + absolutedaystillbday + "days.");
        else if (absolutedaystillbday < 0)
        System.out.print("Your next birthday is in " + (absolutedaystillbirthday + 365) + "days.");
    }
}

Thanks!

Please look at [What does a “Cannot find symbol” compilation error mean?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25706216/what-does-a-cannot-find-symbol-compilation-error-mean) — Hovercraft Full Of Eels, Oct 17 '16 at 02:34
Check the link above, especially the sections on variable *scope*, as your program is running afoul of this. — Hovercraft Full Of Eels, Oct 17 '16 at 02:36
Ok I will give the article another try, I had previously read it but I still could not figure out what was wrong so I asked this question. — John B., Oct 17 '16 at 02:38
It scares me a little bit that beginners are made to write such things. — byxor, Oct 17 '16 at 02:40

I am a beginner, and I can not figure out why I am receiving this compiling error?

0 Answers0