A basic concept

[Anon Ning]

hi all;
What does the following sentence mean?
"Member inner classes can be forward referenced.Local inner classes cannot be."

[Sanjeev Gupta]

This means that references to a member inner class, like any member variable, can occur before the definition of the inner class in the program. However, the same is not true for local inner classes(local inner classes, like local variables, are those that are defined inside a method).

[Anon Ning]

Thanks Sanjeev!But could you please give me a example to help me understand it further.

[Cindy Glass]

<pre>
public class Test {
class Inner {
//do inner stuff This is a member class
}
public void sampleMethod() {
class InMethodClass{
//do local inner class stuff.
}
}
}
</pre>
Because the InMethodClass in inside a method that will not last forever, the conditions for creating that class are special. For instance it can not use the local variables of the enclosing method unless they are final variables. This is because local variables die when the method is over, but objects live on until they no longer have a reference. They can't use a variable that is already dead. Final variables get created in the Constant Pool and don't die.

[Anon Ning]

Thanks Cindy! I got it.