Declaring the Loop Control Variable

But there is another (less important) aspect of loop control: declaring the loop control variable. For example, here is a counting loop:

int count;

. . . . . .

for ( count = 0;  count < 10; count++ ) 
  System.out.print( count + " " );

The loop control variable count is declared somewhere else in the program (possible many statements away from the for statement). This violates the idea that all the loop control is in one statement. It would be nice if the declaration of count were part of the for statement. In fact, this can be done, as in the following:

for ( int count = 0;  count < 10; count++ )
  System.out.print( count + " " );

In this example, the declaration of count and its initialization have been combined. However, there is an important difference between this program fragment and the previous one:

Scope Rule: a variable declared in a for statement can only be used in that statement and the body of the loop.

The following is NOT correct:

for ( int count = 0;  count < 10; count++ )    
  System.out.print( count + " " );

// NOT part of the loop body
System.out.println( "\nAfter the loop count is: " + count );  

Since the println() statement is not part of the loop body, count cannot be used here. The compiler will complain that it "cannot resolve the symbol" when it sees this count. This can be a baffling error message if you forget the scope rule.

int sum = 0;
for ( int j = 0;  j < 8; j++ )
    sum = sum + j;

System.out.println( "The sum is: " + sum );