What message is printed by the code snippet: if (a = 5)?

In programming, particularly in languages like C, C++, and Java, the single equal sign (=) is an assignment operator. The statement if (a = 5) assigns the value of 5 to the variable a and then evaluates the expression. Since the assignment a = 5 results in a truthy value (the assigned value, 5, is non-zero), the condition inside the if statement evaluates to true.

Because of this evaluation, the block of code associated with the if condition would execute, which might include a print statement displaying a message about the value of a. Thus, the overall outcome reflects that a is indeed 5 after the assignment. Therefore, the printed message would confirm this by stating "a is 5".

The other choices do not represent what happens in this scenario. The notion of an error typically relates to syntax issues or incorrect operations, which isn't applicable here since the syntax used is valid albeit often confused due to the common mistake of using a single equal sign when a double equal sign (for comparison) might be intended. No output would suggest that the condition does not run or is false, which isn't the case with this assignment and its truthy