java - Variables might not have been initialized

Question

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ZodiacSign{

        public static void main(String args[]){

        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        int   Feb,March,ZodiacSign,Pisces,Aquarius,Aries,Taurus;

        int selection;
        System.out.println("Feb");

        System.out.println("Feb 1,2,3,4
 Feb 5,6,7,8
 Feb 9,10,11,12
 Feb 13,14,15,16
 Feb 17,18,19,20
 Feb 21,22, 23, 24
 Feb25,26,27,28
 March 1,2,3,4
 March 5,6,7,8
 March 9,10,11,12
 March 13,14,15,16
 March17,18,19,20
 March 21,22,23,24
 March 25,26,27,28
 March 29,30,31");
        System.out.println("Please enter your date of birth");
        System.out.println("Please enter your month of birth");


        selection = input.nextInt();
        if(Feb>= 19){
            ZodiacSign = Pisces ;
            System.out.println("Your zodiac sign is Pisces");
        }   
        else
        {
            System.out.println("Your zodiac sign is Aquarius");
        }
        if(March>=22){
            ZodiacSign = Aries;
            System.out.println("Your zodiac sign is Aries");
        }
        else
        { 
            System.out.println("Your zodiac sign is Taurus");
        }
            System.out.println("End of Program");



        }
}

Its giving me four errors:

ZodiacSign.java:19:error: variable Feb might not have been initialized
                if(Feb>= 19){
                   ^
ZodiacSign.java:20:error: variable Pisces might not have been initialized
                       ZodiacSign= Pisces ;
                                   ^ 
ZodiacSign.java:27:error: variable March might not have been initialized
         if(March>= 22){
            ^
ZodiacSign.java:28:error: variable Aries might not have been initialized
           ZodiacSign= Aries ;
                       ^

Answer 1

You're never assigning a value to Feb, so what do you expect this comparison to achieve?

if (Feb >= 19)

Think about what you really wanted to achieve with that comparison, and then work out what you need to change to make it happen.

In general, you can't read from a local variable before it's definitely assigned - in other words, until the compiler can prove that you'll have been through some execution path which assigns it a value.

However, rather than trying to just make it compile with values assigned at the point of declaration, I would suggest you have a closer think about your overall design. You probably want to change Pisces, Aries etc to be enum values for example.

Additionally, Java code usually uses pascalCase names for local variables.