Illegal forward reference

[Shardul Kumar]

class Test {
    static {
        x = 2;
        System.out.println (x);    // illegal forward reference
    }
    public static void main (String [] args) {
        System.out.println (x);    // no problem here
    }
    static int x;
}

Whats exactly happens here? Why am I getting an error while printing the value of x in the static block?

[prem pillai]

http://radio.javaranch.com/corey/2004/05/13/1084483439000.html