Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 24 views

    38 JoP Feb 10

    Uploaded by

    anujvermamnit
    The document discusses increment and decrement operators (++ and --) in the C programming language. It provides examples of how these operators work, including in expressions like a++b and a++++b. It notes that the ++ and -- operators were among the first features introduced in C to generate more compact code than adding or subtracting 1 from a variable. The operators remain useful today for their brevity. The document also discusses how the "maximum munch" rule applies to these operators during lexical analysis of C code.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    38 JoP Feb 10

    Uploaded by

    anujvermamnit
    24 views1 page
    The document discusses increment and decrement operators (++ and --) in the C programming language. It provides examples of how these operators work, including in expressions like a++b and a++++b. It notes that the ++ and -- operators were among the first features introduced in C to generate more compact code than adding or subtracting 1 from a variable. The operators remain useful today for their brevity. The document also discusses how the "maximum munch" rule applies to these operators during lexical analysis of C code.

    Original Title

    38-JoP-Feb-10

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses increment and decrement operators (++ and --) in the C programming language. It provides examples of how these operators work, including in expressions like a++b and a++++b. It notes that the ++ and -- operators were among the first features introduced in C to generate more compact code than adding or subtracting 1 from a variable. The operators remain useful today for their brevity. The document also discusses how the "maximum munch" rule applies to these operators during lexical analysis of C code.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    24 views1 page

    38 JoP Feb 10

    Uploaded by

    anujvermamnit
    The document discusses increment and decrement operators (++ and --) in the C programming language. It provides examples of how these operators work, including in expressions like a++b and a++++b. It notes that the ++ and -- operators were among the first features introduced in C to generate more compact code than adding or subtracting 1 from a variable. The operators remain useful today for their brevity. The document also discusses how the "maximum munch" rule applies to these operators during lexical analysis of C code.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 1

    _____________________________________________ Guest Column  |  The Joy of Programming

    S.G. Ganesh

    Understanding Increment and


    Decrement Operators in C
    Almost all programmers who work in C-based languages use the ++ and -- operators.
    Let’s look at some interesting aspects of these operators in C.

    I ncrement/decrement operators are good examples


    to explain the curt (concise) syntax of C language:
    (a), PLUS (+), VARIABLE(B) as output, which is a valid
    sequence of tokens for compilation to succeed.
    Now, how about the expression a++b? It is treated as
    void strcpy(char *t, const char *s) { a ++ b, and not (a + (+b)), and results in a compiler error.
    while(*t++ = *s++); How about a+++b? It becomes ((a++) + b), so it’s fine.
    } Expression a++++b? It is ((a++) (++b)), so it is a compiler
    error. Hmm, how about a++++b? It is ((a++) ++) (+b)),
    In this strcpy function, the while loop continues which is again a compiler error. Note that, in all these
    copying chars from source to target, till it reaches the end cases, if we use explicit white-space or parenthesis, we
    of the string ('\0' character). can get valid expressions: (a+ (+b)), ((a++) + b), ((a++)
    Here is another example; can you guess the output of + (+b)), and ((a++) + (++b)). If we try adding more +s
    this code segment? after this, we cannot get a valid expression for integer
    arguments (but we might get valid ones in case of
    char str[] = “oh”, *p = str; pointers, for example).
    while (*p) Today, C-based languages (C++, Java, etc) rule
    ++*p++; the programming world; because of this, almost all
    printf(str); programmers are aware of the ++ and -- operators,
    and how powerful they are in expressing operations.
    How is the expression ++*p++ treated? The postfix What even experienced programmers do not know is
    increment/decrement is part of the operators with that the C family was the first to introduce the ++ and
    highest precedence; the dereference and prefix -- operators! Ken Thompson, while implementing the B
    increment/decrement is at the next precedence level compiler, noticed that increment operations generate
    and their associativity is from right to left. So, the more compact code than adding 1 to a variable and
    expression is treated as: (++(*(p++))). p is a pointer to storing it back. In other words, an increment was
    string “oh”. In the while loop, p++ is executed first, but one instruction while adding 1 and storing it back
    its effect doesn't take place till the statement execution was more than one instruction. So he implemented
    completes. The result of p++ (which is still the value of the prefix ++ (and --) operators, and generalised it by
    p) is dereferenced with *. For the first character it is 'o'. adding a postfix version. Interestingly, this short code-
    Now, prefix ++ increments the character value, so its generation advantage is still true for recent languages.
    value is 'p'. The same happens for the next character, For example, in Java, integer increment would generate
    'h', which becomes 'i'. Now the end of the character is one instruction (iinc) compared to the four instructions
    reached, so the while loop terminates. The printf now for adding 1 to the variable and storing it back (iload_x,
    prints the modified string, which is “pi”. iconst_1, iadd and istore_x instructions)! 
    We can use ++/-- operators to illustrate the
    'maximum munch' rule in C lexical analysis. Simply About the author:
    stated, the lexical analyser (lexer) looks for a match for S G Ganesh is a research engineer in Siemens (Corporate
    Technology). His latest book is ‘Cracking the C, C++ and Java
    the longest token. For example, consider the expression
    Interview’, published by Tata McGraw-Hill. You can reach him at
    a+b, where a and b are integer variables. Given this as sgganesh@gmail.com.
    input in a C program, the lexer might give VARIABLE

    www.LinuxForU.com  |  LINUX For You  |  FEBRUARY 2010  |  13

    You might also like