unable to access variable outside the while loop in java

Question

In this code I am trying to find maximum of n numbers. I have declared maximum outside loop, but unable to access the maximum variable later:

public class MaxOfNnumbers {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader (System.in));
        int maximum  = Integer.parseInt(reader.readLine ());

        //write your code here
        while(true) {
            String s = reader.readLine ();
            int n = Integer.parseInt ( s );

            if (n > 0) {
                if (n > maximum) {
                    n = maximum;
                }
            }

        }
        System.out.println ( maximum );// Error indicates that , maximum variable is unreachable
    }
}

Answer 1

The while(true) line in your code sets up an infinite loop. You need to provide an exit condition from that loop or else System.out.println(maximum) can never be reached.

Answer 2

This is the solution i found for the code.

public class MaxOfNnumbers {

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader (System.in));
    System.out.println ("Enter the amount of numbers to be scanned");


    // if we enter n to be 0 or negative , we cant form an array
    // hence an if condition where if(n > 0) is applied before forming
    // the array .
    int n = Integer.parseInt ( reader.readLine () );
    System.out.println ( "Entered value for n is "+n );

    int leastNum[] = new int[n];
   System.out.println ("Array size is "+leastNum);

    // for reading the data from keyboard least num array is declared
    // this array is fed from the keyboard .
    if(n > 0){
        for(int i = 0; i < n ; i++){
            leastNum[i]=Integer.parseInt ( reader.readLine () );
            System.out.println ("Value stored at "+ i+ "Location is"+leastNum[i]);
        }
         System.out.println ("Least num length is "+leastNum.length);

        int maximum = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

System.out.println ("intial value of maximum is "+maximum);

        for(int i =0 ; i < n; i++){

            if(maximum < leastNum[i]){
                maximum = leastNum[i];
            }
        }
        System.out.println(maximum);
    }
}

}