diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/JSONML.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/JSONML.java
index e94cfb5..77bc5ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/JSONML.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/JSONML.java
@@ -52,12 +52,12 @@ public class JSONML {
 	private static Object parse(XMLTokener x, boolean arrayForm, JSONArray ja) throws JSONException {
 		String attribute;
 		char c;
-		String closeTag = null;
+		String closeTag;
 		int i;
-		JSONArray newja = null;
-		JSONObject newjo = null;
+		JSONArray newja;
+		JSONObject newjo;
 		Object token;
-		String tagName = null;
+		String tagName;
 
 		// Test for and skip past these forms:
 		// <!-- ... -->
@@ -202,7 +202,6 @@ private static Object parse(XMLTokener x, boolean arrayForm, JSONArray ja) throw
 							if (!closeTag.equals(tagName)) {
 								throw x.syntaxError("Mismatched '" + tagName + "' and '" + closeTag + "'");
 							}
-							tagName = null;
 							if (!arrayForm && newja.length() > 0) {
 								newjo.put("childNodes", newja);
 							}
diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/XML.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/XML.java
index 291e9ca..3ba9050 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/XML.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/json/XML.java
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ private static boolean parse(XMLTokener x, JSONObject context,
         char       c;
         int        i;
         String     n;
-        JSONObject o = null;
+        JSONObject o;
         String     s;
         Object     t;
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/AbstractResource.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/AbstractResource.java
index 9672c87..11df2d3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/AbstractResource.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/AbstractResource.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ void fill(URLConnection anUrlConnection) throws IOException {
 				try {
 					// read the response body
 					byte[] buf = new byte[1024];
-					int read = -1;
+					int read;
 					while ((read = es.read(buf)) > 0) {
 						baos.write(buf, 0, read);
 					}
diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/BinaryResource.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/BinaryResource.java
index b68b936..f19f347 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/BinaryResource.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/BinaryResource.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public String getAcceptedTypes() {
 	public File save(File aFileName) throws IOException {
 		BufferedOutputStream bos = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(aFileName), 1024);
 		byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
-		int len = -1;
+		int len;
 		while ((len = inputStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
 			bos.write(buffer, 0, len);
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/XPathQuery.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/XPathQuery.java
index 25fbd67..865ccfd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/XPathQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/XPathQuery.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ public XPathQuery(String anXPath) throws XPathException {
 	}
 
 	private <T> QName getConstant(Class<T> aReturnType) {
-		QName returnType = null;
+		QName returnType;
 		if (aReturnType == String.class) {
 			returnType = XPathConstants.STRING;
 		} else if (aReturnType == Boolean.class) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/jp/javacc/JSONPathCompilerTokenManager.java b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/jp/javacc/JSONPathCompilerTokenManager.java
index dd55ad9..fdcdeab 100644
--- a/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/jp/javacc/JSONPathCompilerTokenManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/us/monoid/web/jp/javacc/JSONPathCompilerTokenManager.java
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ protected Token jjFillToken()
 public Token getNextToken() 
 {
   Token matchedToken;
-  int curPos = 0;
+  int curPos;
 
   EOFLoop :
   for (;;)