Why did I get the compile error “Use of unassigned local variable”?

Local variables aren’t initialized. You have to manually initialize them.

Members are initialized, for example:

public class X
{
    private int _tmpCnt; // This WILL initialize to zero
    ...
}

But local variables are not:

public static void SomeMethod()
{
    int tmpCnt;  // This is not initialized and must be assigned before used.

    ...
}

So your code must be:

int tmpCnt = 0;  
if (name == "Dude")  
   tmpCnt++;  

So the long and the short of it is, members are initialized, locals are not. That is why you get the compiler error.