Why does code with successive semi-colons compile?
<p>According to my scientific Java experimentation, <code>int x = 0;</code> is equivalent to <code>int x = 0;;</code> which is equivalent to <code>int x = 0;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;</code></p>

<ol>
<li>Why does Java allow for this? Does it have any practical application?</li>
<li>Are each of these just empty statements? Do they actually take up any extra processing time during runtime? (I would assume they're just optimized out?)</li>
<li>Do other languages do this? I'm guessing it's something inherited from C, like a lot of things in Java. Is this true?</li>
</ol>
