Variable timestamp might not have been initialized
<p>I have a class with two constructors - one accepts a <code>Date</code> object and the other attempts to create a date object based upon a given timestamp string. The caveat of this is that the conversion to a <code>Date</code> object can throw an exception. I'm getting the 'variable timestamp might not have been initialized' error.</p>

<p>First constructor:</p>

<pre><code>public Visit(Date timestamp) {
    this.timestamp = timestamp;
}
</code></pre>

<p>Second constructor (the one that produces the error):</p>

<pre><code>public Visit(String timestamp) {
    try {
        this.timestamp = dateFormat.parse(timestamp);
    } catch (ParseException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(Visit.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
}
</code></pre>

<p>I've tried adding the initialization of <code>this.timestamp</code> to the <code>finally</code> statement of the <code>try</code> but this then gives an error that the variable may already have been initialized.</p>
