Why are the values HERE, EAST, and AHEAD (among others) written in all uppercase?

They are constant values and constant values are usually written in all uppercase in Java.
  • All variable names in Java should be written in all uppercase.
  • It is a mistake that someone was too lazy to fix.
  • They are important values and important values are usually written in all uppercase in Java.

Do distinguish constants (where the value never changes) from variables (where the value may change over time), Java programmers use a capitalization convention to distinguish the names of constants.