Is private Node head; and private Node head = null; the same thing?

Question

Was looking through the LinkedList java class from my computer science class and I was wondering if declaring private Node head; is the same thing as private Node head = null;?

Answer 1

From the Java spec:

4.12.5. Initial Values of Variables

Every variable in a program must have a value before its value is used:

Each class variable, instance variable, or array component is initialized with a default value when it is created (§15.9, §15.10.2):

• [...]

• For all reference types (§4.3), the default value is null.

Since the default value of all objects is null, there is no difference.