pbl really has the best solution here.

But to answer the original question of what an int defaults to, the answer is really nothing. When you initialize a variable like you did without assigning it a value at any point and try to use it as an argument or as part of an expression, etc. then the program won't even compile. Also, you can't compare int primitives to null since int isn't actually an object to be in a null-state, it's just a data primitive.

Well, it would. But spyware like that doesn't simply exist from ISPs (that we know of, at least.)

You wouldn't just get a copyright notice from ripping it - for that matter, if you did, I suggest you get a good lawyer, but I have a feeling that's not the entire story here. If your ISP sent you a notice about it, that means at some point you received or sent that movie over the internet and either the MPAA or other publishing company noticed you were seeding the torrent and contacted your ISP about it. The point of an ISP is that they deal in your Internet access. Anything you just do on your computer without network activity shouldn't ever be noticed by them. Heck, even if they did notice it, they likely wouldn't care. See Lemur's post.

I don't really want to flat out call tpaskell a liar... but his current story seems really unlikely.

There are actually ways to use Swing in a thread-safe way, but they aren't immediately obvious. If you'd like to read more on the topic, there is an article here.

Cheers!

Sir, I just ran your code and it works perfectly fine for values greater than 75cents. Just because the first while statement isn't true doesn't mean that the subsequent statements won't execute.

Okay, threads may seem rather complicated at first along with everything concurrent, but they really are quite useful and powerful tools. The official Oracle Concurrency Tutorials do a very good job of presenting this concept.

Secondly, if you are using Swing for your game, which would seem most likely, you wouldn't be able to use threads well. Swing isn't thread-safe which means that using threads can cause unexpected behavior. For now you can easily stick with a timer which should serve the purpose perfectly well.

Good luck and cheers!