I am a bit lost in this task

Remember that characters can be compared using the < , > , < = , and > = operators. That is to say, 'B' is greater than ( > ) 'A', 'C' is greater than 'B', and so on.

Compare the first character of the string to the character 'M'. If it's less than or equal to 'M', then you'll set line to 1. Otherwise, set line to 2.

public class ConferenceRegistrationAssistant {

public int getLineFor(String lastName) { /* If the last name is between A thru M send them to line 1 Otherwise send them to line 2 */ char letter=lastName.charAt(0); if (letter <='M'){ System.out.println("Line 1"); }else{ System.out.println("Line 2"); }

int line = 0;
return line;

}

} I made it in the first place.But it is still not working.

Or I made like this : public class ConferenceRegistrationAssistant {

public int getLineFor(String lastName) { /* If the last name is between A thru M send them to line 1 Otherwise send them to line 2 */ char letter=lastName.charAt(0); if (letter<='M'){ int line=1; }else{ int line = 2; } int line = 0; return line; }

} Not working

You need to declare int line in the beginning of the function. In that code you're declaring it within the if statements which is limiting the scope of the variable. Declare it above the if statements then change your int line = statements to just line =.

error: variable line is already defined in method getLineFor(String) int line = 0;