Question

I have the following code :

public class Main {
    private int i = j; //1
    private int j = 10; 

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println((new Main()).i);      
    }
}

and there is a compiler error in line 1 because an illegal
forward reference.
But when I am trying the following code :

public class Main {
    int i = getJ();  //1

    int getJ(){
       return j;
    }
    int j=10;
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(new Main().i);
    }
}

it works fine and the result is 0.
Why there is no illegal
forward reference in line 1 here?.The two codes look similar to me.

Answer 1

Methods can be used before they are declared.

private int j = 10; is an executable statement that must be executed at some point in time. Therefore, the ordering of field declarations is meaningful.

A method declaration is not itself executable.
Therefore, the ordering of method is completely meaningless.