Why does Eclipse require me to set (arbitrary) brackets in java code?

Question

I am currently trying to figure out how to use Eclipse to program Escape models in java. I am quite new to Escape and Eclipse, and it has been a while since I programmed in java

Answer 1

If you separate field initialization from declaration, you need a method or an initializer. This instance works without initializers:

package ede.brook.model;

import org.ascape.model.Scape;

public class CoordinationGame extends Scape {

    public int latticeHeight = 30;
    public int latticeWitdh = 30;
    public int nPlayers = 200;

    Scape lattice  = new Scape(new Array2DVonNeumann());;
    Scape players;

    boolean test = true;
    int test2 = 3;

    test = true;
    test2 = 3;

}

If an initializer is present, they are executed before the constructors.

As for coding practice, I would recommend against initializers and use a combined declaration + initialization for simple cases or (parameterless) constructors for more complicated constructs. An exception are static initializers, which may be necessary for more complex initializations:

static SomeTypeWithComplexInitialization staticField;

static {
  SomeOtherType factoryParameter = new SomeOtherType()
  staticField = SomeTypeFactory.createInstance(factoryParameter);
}

The only other instance where I would recommend using initializers are APIs that specifically recommend this. For example, JMock uses this syntax to provide an easy-to-grock lambda-like construct:

context.checking(new Expectations() {{
    oneOf (subscriber).receive(message);
}});