Question:

Consider the following code snippet:

public class VariablesExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final int MAX_VALUE = 100;
        int number = 50;
        number = MAX_VALUE;
        number += 50;
        System.out.println(number);
    }
}

Explain the behavior of the above code snippet.

Answer:

The given code snippet demonstrates the behavior of variables and constants in Java.

The code declares a class named VariablesExample and a main method. Inside the main method, the following actions take place:

1. The line final int MAX_VALUE = 100; declares a constant variable MAX_VALUE and initializes it with the value 100. The keyword final indicates that the variable cannot be modified after initialization.

2. The line int number = 50; declares and assigns a variable number with an initial value of 50.

3. The line number = MAX_VALUE; assigns the value of MAX_VALUE (which is 100) to the variable number. As number is not a constant, it can be reassigned to a different value.

4. The line number += 50; increments the value of number by 50. This is equivalent to number = number + 50, so the new value of number becomes 150.

5. Finally, System.out.println(number); prints the value of number, which is 150, to the console.

Therefore, when the code is executed, the output will be:

150

Note: If the code attempted to reassign a value to MAX_VALUE after declaration (e.g., MAX_VALUE = 200;), it would result in a compilation error since MAX_VALUE is declared as final and cannot be changed.