I'd say 11. The local variable would hide the member data -- at least that's what c++ does. I would be surprised if java took a different tact --le ----- Original Message ----- From: Corbett, James To: 'program-java@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 1:20 PM Subject: [program-java] Java: Precedence Hello all: I know y'all say don't do that but let's just pretend. If a member is declared private to the class such as Public Class MYClass { Private int x = 0; Public MYClass() { } Public int getX () { int x = 11; return x; } } What would you expect to have returned as a value of .getX()? Jim James M. Corbett Programmer / Analyst | Canada Revenue Agency | Agence du revenue du Canada 875 Heron Rd. Ottawa, On. K1A0L5 James.Corbett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Telephone | Téléphone: (613) 941-1338 Facsimile | Télécopieur: (613) 941-2261 Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada