title: Why does the compiler complain with illegal start of expression error message?
body: <p>This code looks through several files to find the popularity and meaning of whatever name you type in. The class constants that have errors are for a graph I have yet to make within the class. They are not being used right now, but will be soon.</p>
  
  <p>I'm getting these errors:</p>
  
  <pre><code>BabyNames.java:8: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int STARTINGYEAR = 1890;
     ^
  BabyNames.java:8: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int STARTINGYEAR = 1890;
            ^
  BabyNames.java:8: error: ';' expected
     public static final int STARTINGYEAR = 1890;
                  ^
  BabyNames.java:9: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int WIDTH = 60;
     ^
  BabyNames.java:9: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int WIDTH = 60;
            ^ 
  BabyNames.java:9: error: ';' expected
     public static final int WIDTH = 60;
                  ^
  BabyNames.java:10: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int HEIGHT = 30; 
     ^
  BabyNames.java:10: error: illegal start of expression
     public static final int HEIGHT = 30; 
            ^
  BabyNames.java:10: error: ';' expected
     public static final int HEIGHT = 30;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I think I have all the correct semi colons here, but I'm not sure what's going on 
  Here is my code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import java.util.*;
  import java.io.*;
  //import java.lang.*;
  
  public class BabyNames{ //ADD COMMENTS
     public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException{
     public static final int STARTINGYEAR = 1890;
     public static final int WIDTH = 60;
     public static final int HEIGHT = 30; 
        Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
        DrawingPanel panel = new DrawingPanel(780,560);
        Graphics g = panel.getGraphics();
        Scanner nameFile = new Scanner(new File("names.txt"));
        Scanner meaningsFile = new Scanner(new File("meanings.txt"));
        Scanner nameFile2 = new Scanner(new File("names2.txt"));
        intro();
        //nameToLowerCase(console);
        if(STARTINGYEAR = 1890){
        findingStatistics(console,nameFile);
        }
        else{
        findingStatistics(console, nameFile2);       
        drawGraph(g);
     }
  
  
  
     public static void intro(){
        System.out.println("This program allows you to search through the");
        System.out.println("data from the Social Security Administration");
        System.out.println("to see how popular a particular name has been");
        System.out.println("since 1890" );
        System.out.println();
        System.out.print("Name: ");
        }
  
     public static String nameToLowerCase(Scanner console, Scanner data){   
        String originalName = console.next();
        String name = "" ;
        int lengthOfName = originalName.length();
        String beginingOfName = originalName.substring(0,1).toUpperCase();
        String endOfName = originalName.substring(1,lengthOfName).toLowerCase();
        name = beginingOfName + endOfName;
        return name;
     }
     public static String findingStatistics(Scanner console, Scanner data){
        String nameFinal = nameToLowerCase(console);
        boolean goesThroughOnce = false; //
        String statistics = "";
        String currWord = "";
        String currLine = "";
        while (data.hasNext() &amp;&amp; goesThroughOnce == false){ 
           currLine = data.nextLine();
           Scanner lineBeingRead = new Scanner(currLine); //make other scanners?? for each file
           currWord = lineBeingRead.next(); //
  
           if (currWord.equals(nameFinal) || currWord.equals(nameFinal.toUpperCase())){   //         
              statistics = currLine;
              goesThroughOnce = true;
              System.out.println(statistics);
          }
          else{
          }
     }
     return statistics;
  }
  </code></pre>