Why can't I use the same variable as an inner loop does?

Q: Why can't I do the following:

namespace Bug

{

            class Class1

            {

                        [STAThread]

                        static void Main(string[] args)

                        {

                                    for(int i=0; i<100; i++)

                                    {

 

                                    }

 

                                    int i = 0;

                        }

            }

}

the compiler gives me an error on the “int i = 0;” part of the code.

A: This is correct behavior, and is covered in section 3.7 of the language spec. It says, “The scope of a local variable declared in a local-variable-declaration (8.5.1) is the block in the which the declaration occurs”.

The scope of i is therefore the entire Main() function, and that means that the use in the for loop is a re=use, and therefore is not allowed.

This behavior is inteded to make incorrect re-use of variable names (such as in a cut and paste) less likely.

[Author: Eric Gunnerson]