title: What does `String longest = ""` mean and do?
body: <p>This is the bottom portion of the of my program. My friend helped me out; however he didn't explain the <code>String longest = "";</code> part. </p>
  
  <pre><code>public static void longestName (Scanner z, int x){
      String longest = "";
      for(int i= 1;i&lt;=x;i++){
          System.out.println("Insert Name "+i+":");
          String name=z.next();
          if(name.length()&gt;longest.length()){
              longest=name;
          }
      }
      System.out.println(longest+"'s name is the longest");
  }
  </code></pre>