Why this constant declaration isn't working in Java?

Question

I'm a beginner in Java and I'm having problems to declare constants as public, after searching a while in some books, I created this very simple program:

package course1;

public class Circle 
{
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {       
        public static final double QUARTER_VALUE = 0.25;
        System.out.println(QUARTER_VALUE);
    }
}

I got the following error message:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problem: 
    Illegal modifier for parameter QUARTER_VALUE; only final is permitted

    at course1.Circle.main(Circle.java:7)

The problem is in this line:

public static final double QUARTER_VALUE = 0.25;

I was given the following message when I hover this line:

illegal modifier for parameter QUARTER_VALUE; only final is permitted

I don't understand why, following my books this should work.

`public static` doesn't make sense in that context. Did you want to declare it outside of `main` maybe? — Federico klez Culloca, Nov 19 '20 at 08:05
Note the sentence in the duplicated question: constants go "to to the top" of classes. — GhostCat, Nov 19 '20 at 08:10

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 19 '20 at 08:08

The scope of a method variable is only that method, so you do not need to specify the scope explicitly. A variable declared directly within a method is a local variable. A local variable cannot be declared as public. In fact, the only modifier that you can use on a local variable declaration is final

The access modifiers in case of variables are only applicable to class members and not method (local) variables.

Why this constant declaration isn't working in Java?

1 Answers1