A common nuance of programming is that of code scope. Scope refers to the variables that can be accessed from a particular section of code. Scope can also be local or global. In Java, new levels of scope are delimited by { ... } blocks.

From wikipedia:

In computer programming, the scope of a variable{.mw-redirect} is the region of a computer program where the binding is valid: where the variable name can be used to refer to the entity. Such a region is referred to as a scope block. In other parts of the program the name may refer to a different entity (it may have a different binding), or to nothing at all (it may be unbound).

Variables are declared like below. They cannot be declared twice within the same scope.

Code sample Type
int x; Declaration
int x = 24; Declaration and Assignment
x = 24; Assignment

In Java, imagine you have a class that looks like the following:

public class BankAccount {
    String owner;
    double balance_c, balance_s;
}

Then imagine it has a method like this:

public void deposit(double amount) {
    balance_c = balance_c + amount;
}

The variable balance has global scope and it can be accessed by the method deposit because it is declared outside of it.

Imagine if the method looked like this:

public void deposit(double amount) {
    if (amount > 0) {
        String destination = ask("Savings or checking?");
    }
    if (destination == "savings") {
        balance_s = balance_s + amount;
    } else if (destination == "checking") {
        balance_c = balance_c + amount;
    }
}

Would this method compile? It would not. The variable destination has local scope, however it will not be accessible by the if statements below because its declaration (String destination) is within the scope of if (amount > 0) { ... }. How would this be fixed?

public void deposit(double amount) {
    String destination;
    if (amount > 0) {
        destination = ask("Savings or checking?");
    }
    if (destination == "savings") {
        balance_s = balance_s + amount;
    } else if (destination == "checking") {
        balance_c = balance_c + amount;
    }
}

Move the declaration part up a level.