Not able to access parent instance variable in outside of methods in child

Question

Hi,
I am not getting why i am not able to access parent class instance variable outside the child class intance methods.
class Parent
     int a;
class Child extends Parent
     a = 1; // Here i am getting a compilation error that Syntax error on token "a", VariableDeclaratorId expected after this token
     void someMethod()
          a = 1;  // Here i am not getting any compilation error while accessing parent class variable
}Can any one please let me know exact reason for this and what is the error talks about?
Thanks,
Uday
Edited by: Udaya Shankara Gandhi on Jun 13, 2012 3:30 AM

Answer 1

You can only put assignments or expressions inside methods, constructors or class initializors, or when declaring a variable.
It has nothing to the with Child extending Parent.
class Parent {
    int a = 1;
    { a = 1; }
    public Parent() {
        a = 1;
   public void method() {
       a = 1;
}