The Java Language: Expressions

An expression produces a result, or value, when it is evaluated. The value of an expression can be a numeric type, as in an arithmetic expression; a reference type, as in an object allocation; or the special type, void, which is the declared type of a method that doesn’t return a value. In the last case, the expression is evaluated only for its side effects; that is, the work it does aside from producing a value. The type of an expression is known at compile time. The value produced at runtime is either of this type or in the case of a reference type, a compatible (assignable) subtype.