Why compile error “Use of unassigned local variable”?

Question

My code is the following

int tmpCnt;  
if (name == \"Dude\")  
   tmpCnt++;  

Why is there an error Use of unassigned local variabl

Answer 1

Default assignments apply to class members, but not to local variables. As Eric Lippert explained it in this answer, Microsoft could have initialized locals by default, but they choose not to do it because using an unassigned local is almost certainly a bug.