What value does a newly declared boolean variable hold by default in Java?

• A. Truthiness is determined at runtime
• B. false
• C. Not assigned
• D. True

Answer: (B)

In Java, when a boolean variable is declared but not explicitly initialized, it automatically holds the default value of false. This behavior is part of Java's design, where instance variables of class types (including boolean) are automatically initialized to their default values.

The boolean type specifically can only hold one of two values: true or false. In Java, default values are assigned based on the data type when an object is created. For instance, a boolean will be set to false, while numeric types are set to zero, and reference types are set to null.

This automatic assignment ensures predictable behavior in programs, as it avoids undefined states for the variables. So, when a boolean variable is declared and not initialized, you can expect it to start with the value of false, which is consistent across various instances of usage in Java programming.