Java - I think my boolean is defaulting to true for some reason - boolean

Question

I'm having an issue with my hangman program. When I run it, the label holding the int variable "lives" is supposed to update when you guess a wrong letter. But for some reason it isn't. I've placed this in my code as a test mechanism, and it isn't appearing even here.
if (used[letter] = false) {
System.out.println("test");
However, when I place it here.. It DOES work..
if (finished == false) {
boolean found = false;
boolean www = false;
System.out.println("test");
if (used[letter] = false) {
It almost leads me to believe that used[letter] is true by default, when it really shouldn't be. The variable is declared at the very top. Any thoughts?
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class Hangman implements ActionListener {
JFrame frame;
JPanel stats = new JPanel();
JLabel currentWordLA = new JLabel("Current word:");
JLabel triedLettersLA = new JLabel("Tried letters:");
JLabel triesLeftLA = new JLabel("Tries remaining:");
private String[] wordList = {"computer","java","activity","alaska","appearance","article",
"automobile","basket","birthday","canada","central","character","chicken","chosen",
"cutting","daily","darkness","diagram","disappear","driving","effort","establish","exact",
"establishment","fifteen","football","foreign","frequently","frighten","function","gradually",
"hurried","identity","importance","impossible","invented","italian","journey","lincoln",
"london","massage","minerals","outer","paint","particles","personal","physical","progress",
"quarter","recognise","replace","rhythm","situation","slightly","steady","stepped",
"strike","successful","sudden","terrible","traffic","unusual","volume","yesterday" };
public String mysteryWord;
public int lives;
private boolean finished = false;
private boolean won = false;
private Button a[];
public boolean used[] = new boolean[26];
public static void main (String[] args) {
Hangman gui = new Hangman();
gui.go();
}
class myDrawPanel extends JPanel {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
setBackground(Color.white);
g.setColor(Color.gray);
g.fillRect(50, 200, 150, 20);
g.fillRect(90,20,10,200);
g.fillRect(90,20,60,10);
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.fillRect(145,20,5,25);
g.setColor(Color.green);
if (lives < 6 )
g.drawOval(132,45,30,30);
if (lives < 5 )
g.drawLine(147,75,147,100);
if (lives < 4 )
g.drawLine(147,100,167,133);
if (lives < 3 )
g.drawLine(147,100,127,133);
if (lives < 2 )
g.drawLine(147,75,167,85);
if (lives < 1 )
g.drawLine(147,75,127,85);
StringBuffer guessed = new StringBuffer();
for (int cl = 0; cl < mysteryWord.length(); cl++) {
if (used[(int)mysteryWord.charAt(cl)-'a'])
guessed.append(mysteryWord.charAt(cl));
else
guessed.append("*");
}
currentWordLA.setText("Current word: " + guessed.toString());
if (lives < 1) {
g.setColor(Color.white);
g.fillRect(70, 200, 200, 30);
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawString(mysteryWord.toString(),75,230);
Font fff = new Font("Helvetica",Font.BOLD,36);
g.setFont(fff);
g.setColor(Color.red);
g.drawString("You lose!",200,100);
//finished = true;
}
if (won) {
Font fff = new Font("Helvetica",Font.BOLD,36);
g.setFont(fff);
// Color red=new Color.red
g.setColor(Color.red);
g.drawString("You Win!",200,100);
//finished = true;
}
}
}
public void go() {
///////////////////////DESIGN BEGIN//////////////////////////////////////////////
frame = new JFrame("Hangman");
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
myDrawPanel noosePanel = new myDrawPanel();
JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
JPanel scorePanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout( new GridLayout( 2, 0) );
bottomPanel.setLayout( new GridLayout( 0, 2) );
scorePanel.setSize(20,100);
noosePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Your progress."));
topPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Your arsenal."));
scorePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Your score."));
frame.add(topPanel);
frame.add(bottomPanel);
bottomPanel.add(scorePanel);
bottomPanel.add(noosePanel);
//Just the stats panel.
JButton restart = new JButton("Reset");
currentWordLA.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.PLAIN, 10));
currentWordLA.setForeground(Color.black);
triedLettersLA.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.PLAIN, 10));
triedLettersLA.setForeground(Color.black);
triesLeftLA.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.PLAIN, 10));
triesLeftLA.setForeground(Color.black);
restart.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.PLAIN, 16));
restart.setForeground(Color.red);
stats.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
c.insets = new Insets(20,0,0,0);
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
stats.add(currentWordLA, c);
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 1;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
stats.add(triedLettersLA, c);
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 2;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
stats.add(triesLeftLA, c);
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 3;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
stats.add(restart, c);
scorePanel.add(stats);
///////////////////////DESIGN END//////////////////////////////////////////////
///////////////////////ALPHABET BEGIN//////////////////////////////////////////
int i;
StringBuffer buffer;
a = new Button[26];
topPanel.setLayout( new GridLayout( 4,0, 10, 10) );
for (i = 0; i <26; i++) {
buffer = new StringBuffer();
buffer.append((char)(i+'a'));
a[i] = new Button(buffer.toString());
a[i].setSize(100,100);
a[i].addActionListener( this );
topPanel.add(a[i]);
}
///////////////////////ALPHABET END//////////////////////////////////////////
//Just shows the entire window.
frame.setSize(500, 500);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.setVisible(true);
//////////////////////GAMEPLAY BEGIN////////////////////////////////////////
lives = 6;
triesLeftLA.setText("Tries remaining: " + lives);
mysteryWord = wordGen();
}
//Returns a random word from the wordList bank.
private String wordGen() {
return wordList[0 + (int)(Math.random() * ((63 - 0) + 1)) ]; //Make sure to set these to nonprinted chars eventually
}
public void consultWord(int letter) {
if (finished == false) {
boolean found = false;
boolean www = false;
if (used[letter] = false) {
System.out.println("test");
for (int cl = 0 ; cl < mysteryWord.length(); cl++) {
if (mysteryWord.charAt(cl)==((char)(letter + 'a'))) {
found = true;
}
}
if (found == false) {
lives = lives - 1;
triesLeftLA.setText ("Tries remaining: " + lives);
}
}
used[letter] = true;
for (int cl = 0; cl < mysteryWord.length(); cl++) {
if (!used[(int)(mysteryWord.charAt(cl)) - 'a']){
www = true;
}
}
if (www == false) {
won = true;
}
frame.repaint();
}
}
public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent e) {
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 26; i++) {
if (e.getSource() == a[i]) {
consultWord(i); }
}
}
}

Answer 1

Make that:
if (used[letter] == false) {
System.out.println("test");

Answer 2

if (used[letter] = false) {
You just set used[letter] to false. Try ==
Of course, to avoid this typo you shouldn't be using == but rather ...
if (!used[letter]) {