Filed under: Clean code, Java, Programming, Teaching, — Tags: ++i, difference between i++ and ++i, i++ — Thomas Sundberg — 2011-08-05
During a coaching session I got a question about a loop.
Would there be any difference in the output from a loop defined as
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
System.out.print(i + " ");
}
and a loop defined as
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
System.out.print(i + " ");
}
in Java?
The answer is (of course) no, the output is identical. Both loops will result in
0 1 2
So what is the difference between i++ and ++i then?
The difference is that
This behavior difference doesn't matter in a for loop. To see the difference in behaviour, we need to execute something else.
Take a look at
int i = 1;
int j = ++i;
System.out.println("i: " + i + " j: " + j);
and
int i = 1;
int j = i++;
System.out.println("i: " + i + " j: " + j);
They will produce different output.
The output from the examples above will be:
i: 2 j: 2
and
i: 2 j: 1
Which construct should I prefer then? The answer falls back on readability. Understanding that you want to increment a variable with one and then assign it to another variable would mean that you want to execute something like
j = ++i;
which is the equivalent of
i = i + 1; j = i;
I would prefer the latter example, it is easier for me to read and understand.
If you want to save the current value of a variable and then increment it, you could do:
j = i++;
the equivalent would be
j = i; i = i + 1;
Here I also think that the latter solution would be the better solution. It is clearer what you mean.
There is no difference when you use ++i or i++ on a line on its own (or in a for loop as above). My normal implementation would be to use i++ and I really don't have a good reason for doing so. It feels good.
What is a better solution is of course a matter of opinion if the only difference is how it reads. But clean code is about opinions. What is easier to read and understand? To whom is it easier? The answer has to be very easy for anybody to read it. Anybody may be a very junior developer that need to understand he code and change it somehow.
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