Uploaded image for project: 'JDK'
  1. JDK
  2. JDK-4492937

"cannot resolve symbol" is a terrible diagnostic

    XMLWordPrintable

Details

    • Enhancement
    • Resolution: Won't Fix
    • P4
    • None
    • 1.4.0
    • tools
    • generic
    • solaris_7

    Description

      The "cannot resolve symbol" diagnostic is one of the two most common
      error messages printed by javac (the other being a syntax error).
      This diagnostic is terrible. First, the problem is not in name resolution.
      Name resolution is a dynamic thing that happens at runtime. Rather, it is
      a problem of name lookup, which is a static thing that happens at compile
      time. A much better diagnostic would be something like "name undefined".

      Attachments

        Activity

          People

            gafter Neal Gafter
            gafter Neal Gafter
            Votes:
            0 Vote for this issue
            Watchers:
            0 Start watching this issue

            Dates

              Created:
              Updated:
              Resolved:
              Imported:
              Indexed: