[kmote]

Ask and ye shall receive, here is a fairly lame example of why the single = is legal in an if. In c:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define LIMIT 14

int doSomething()
{
	return 11;
}

int main(void)
{
	int aNumber;
	
	if((aNumber = doSomething()) > LIMIT)
	{
		printf("%d is greater than %d", aNumber, LIMIT);
	}
	else
	{
		printf("%d is less than %d", aNumber, LIMIT);
	}
	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

and because the inequality operators "return" a boolean the same applies to java:

public class Main {

    private static int LIMIT = 14;

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int aNumber;
        
        if((aNumber = doSomething()) > LIMIT)
        {
            System.out.format("%d is greater than %d\n", aNumber, LIMIT);
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.format("%d is less than %d\n", aNumber, LIMIT);
        }
    }

    private static int doSomething()
    {
        return 20;
    }
}