E08070: never initialised

What went wrong

A class property was declared with no value and nothing gives it one. A property declared as 'name as Type?' starts unset, and a type whose constructors do not set it (here a private default constructor) leaves it unset for the life of the object.

Worked examples

Compilable examples demonstrating this error and the correct fix:

• ek9 -q 104 (Why does EK9 require explicit constructors for uninitiali...)

How to fix it

1. Initialise the property where it is declared: 'owner as String: "unassigned"'
2. Or set it in a constructor, as the [EXAMPLE] below shows
3. Or remove the property if nothing needs it

Common causes

• Declaring a property with '?' and never assigning it
• A private default constructor that does not set every property
• A property left over after the code that used it was removed

See also

• E08070: property never initialised (this error)
• E08020: variable used before it is initialised

Examples

Every example is compiled by the EK9 compiler: the first fails exactly as captioned, the others fix it.

Fails with E08070: never initialised

#!ek9
defines module error.e08070.bad

  defines class

    Ledger
      owner as String?

      default private Ledger()

      describe()
        <- rtn as String: "ledger"

      override operator ? as pure
        <- rtn as Boolean: true

Fixed: Initialise the property where it is declared

#!ek9
defines module error.e08070.good

  defines class

    Ledger
      owner as String: "unassigned"

      default operator ?

Fixed: Or set it in a constructor

#!ek9
defines module error.e08070.good.constructor

  defines class

    Ledger
      owner as String?

      default private Ledger()

      Ledger()
        -> name as String
        owner: name

      default operator ?

Questions and answers

These Q&A entries show E08070 and its fix:

• Q104: Why does EK9 require explicit constructors for uninitialised properties?