Getting an error " variable may not have been initialized'

[TheRockIng]

Hey guys, I know what the error means but I don't think initializing the variable will make my code work as intended so I'm having a little dilemna here... here's the code and I'll highlight the part that is said to be not initialized:

import java.util.Scanner;

   public class ItemCost {
    public static void main (String []args){
    int i=1,item=1,e=1, f=1, g=1;
    int items,  d ;
    double gst, qst, subt, Tot = 1, PriceItems ;
    Scanner x = new Scanner(System.in);
    Scanner y = new Scanner(System.in);
    Scanner z = new Scanner(System.in);
    Scanner w = new Scanner(System.in);


    System.out.println("Please input the amount of items bought");
    items = x.nextInt();

    while ( items < 1 || items > 10) 

    {
        System.out.print("Sorry the input was not correct, please try again\n");
        items = x.nextInt();
        i++;
    } 

  do 
  {
     System.out.print("Please input the price of the item  "+item   +         " " );
      PriceItems = y.nextDouble();
    [B][SIZE=4]  subt += PriceItems;[/SIZE][/B]
       if 
       ( PriceItems < 1 || PriceItems > 1000 )
           e++;
       else
      item++;
  }while (item <= items);



   System.out.println("Please input the rate of GST in %");
   gst = z.nextDouble();

   while (gst < 0 || gst > 22)
   { 
       System.out.print("Sorry, this was incorrect, please try     again");
       gst = z.nextDouble();
       f++;
   } 



   System.out.println("Please input the rate of QST in %");
   qst = w.nextDouble();

   while (qst < 0 || qst > 18)
   { 
       System.out.print("Sorry, this was incorrect, please try again");
       qst = z.nextDouble();
       g++;
   }
}
  }

So I'm supposed to get the following output :

 Please input the amount of items bought
2
Please input the price of the item  1 1
Please input the price of the item  2 2
Please input the rate of GST in % 20

Please input the rate of QST in % 18

HOWEVER my program doesn't seem to add input of item 1, and 2 if I initialize subt= 0 initially. It'll only take the last value inputted in the loop. By the way, the increments are counters to count the amount of errors the user might input by accident ( or whatever). Some people have been pointing it out as useless but that's the only way I found it to work.

THanks for the help in advance guys!

[Norm]

What is the program's current output?

Note: Single letter variable names make the code harder to read and understand. Use names that describe what the variable contains.

[TheRockIng]

Sorry, this is like my third program, trying to get use to it. I'll change that. The current output would be something like this :

Please input the amount of items bought
2
Please input the price of the item  1 1
Please input the price of the item  2 2
Please input the rate of GST in %
10
Please input the rate of QST in %
9
2.0

Also can I ask one other thing, for variables, do you usually capitalize them as a convention?

[Norm]

current output would be

I was asking what the current out actually was.
What happens when you compile and execute the program?

Java coding conventions says variable names should start with a lowercase letter.

[pbrockway2]

subt += PriceItems;

The compiler is complaining that subt has not been given a value, so incrementing its value doesn't make sense.

[Edit]

HOWEVER my program doesn't seem to add input of item 1, and 2 if I initialize subt= 0 initially. It'll only take the last value inputted in the loop.

Only just read this...

subt does have to be initialised. I"m not sure what you mean by the program "taking" values. If you find some variable has got a strange value after the do loop, use System.out.println() to print its value then post the whole output together with what you expected the value would be.

[TheRockIng]

Please input the amount of items bought
2
Please input the price of the item  1 1
Please input the price of the item  2 2
Please input the rate of GST in %
10
Please input the rate of QST in %
9
2.0

where 2.0 is subt =+ PriceItems ( if I do subt += PriceItems then it says variable hasn't been initialized)

The answer should be the price of (in this case) Item 1 + item 2 = 3

Now, I know I don't know anything about java. I just feel that the program doesn't keep in memory the previous input of the user ( in the do-while loop where they are ask to input the price --> PriceItems). In anyway, I don't know how to remediate to that problem

EDIT**** hum.... now that I initialized it to 0 ( Eclipse "suggested it"), the program worked, any idea why?

[jim829]

When you do the following:

subt =+ PriceItems;

All you are doing is initializing subt to PriceItems. You don't need the + in that case.

subt += PriceItems;

This uses the compound assignment operator which is a short cut for doing

subt = subt + PriceItems;

Since you are adding something to an existing variable, the variable needs to be initialized (as has been already explained in
previous posts).

Regards,
Jim

[DarrylBurke]

the variable needs to be initialized

... before the loop; not inside it.

db