How do i return nothing in a "public int getNothing()" method ?

Question

i'd like "getNothing" to return an int ONLY if "z" is true ... is that even possible ?
code :
  public int getNothing() {
        boolean z= trueOrFalse();
        int i = generator.nextInt(10);
        if (z=true){           
            return i;
Message was edited by:
jeroenQuant

Answer 1

but in this case it's kinda necessary ...It isn't possible, so it isn't necessary.
If getNothing() returns an int within a certain range, then you could return an int outside this range if trueOrFalse() is false. For example getNothing() could return a positive int when the condition is true and a -1 otherwise. The caller could detect the out of range value and act appropriately.
Another approach is to move the boolean test from the getNothing() method to its caller. Ie something like:public void test() {
    if(trueOrFalse()) {
        System.out.println(getNothing());
public int getNothing() {
    return generator.nextInt(10);
}