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Compound-Assignment Operators

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Compound-assignment operators provide a shorter syntax for assigning the result of an arithmetic or bitwise operator. They perform the operation on the two operands before assigning the result to the first operand.

Compound-Assignment Operators in Java

Java supports 11 compound-assignment operators:

Example Usage

To assign the result of an addition operation to a variable using the standard syntax:

But use a compound-assignment operator to effect the same outcome with the simpler syntax:

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Compound assignment operators in Java

Compound-assignment operators provide a shorter syntax for assigning the result of an arithmetic or bitwise operator. They perform the operation on the two operands before assigning the result to the first operand. The following are all possible assignment operator in java:

Implementation of all compound assignment operator

Rules for resolving the Compound assignment operators

At run time, the expression is evaluated in one of two ways.Depending upon the programming conditions:

• First, the left-hand operand is evaluated to produce a variable. If this evaluation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason; the right-hand operand is not evaluated and no assignment occurs.
• Otherwise, the value of the left-hand operand is saved and then the right-hand operand is evaluated. If this evaluation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason and no assignment occurs.
• Otherwise, the saved value of the left-hand variable and the value of the right-hand operand are used to perform the binary operation indicated by the compound assignment operator. If this operation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason and no assignment occurs.
• Otherwise, the result of the binary operation is converted to the type of the left-hand variable, subjected to value set conversion to the appropriate standard value set, and the result of the conversion is stored into the variable.
• First, the array reference sub-expression of the left-hand operand array access expression is evaluated. If this evaluation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason; the index sub-expression (of the left-hand operand array access expression) and the right-hand operand are not evaluated and no assignment occurs.
• Otherwise, the index sub-expression of the left-hand operand array access expression is evaluated. If this evaluation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason and the right-hand operand is not evaluated and no assignment occurs.
• Otherwise, if the value of the array reference sub-expression is null, then no assignment occurs and a NullPointerException is thrown.
• Otherwise, the value of the array reference sub-expression indeed refers to an array. If the value of the index sub-expression is less than zero, or greater than or equal to the length of the array, then no assignment occurs and an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException is thrown.
• Otherwise, the value of the index sub-expression is used to select a component of the array referred to by the value of the array reference sub-expression. The value of this component is saved and then the right-hand operand is evaluated. If this evaluation completes abruptly, then the assignment expression completes abruptly for the same reason and no assignment occurs.

Examples : Resolving the statements with Compound assignment operators

We all know that whenever we are assigning a bigger value to a smaller data type variable then we have to perform explicit type casting to get the result without any compile-time error. If we did not perform explicit type-casting then we will get compile time error. But in the case of compound assignment operators internally type-casting will be performed automatically, even we are assigning a bigger value to a smaller data-type variable but there may be a chance of loss of data information. The programmer will not responsible to perform explicit type-casting. Let’s see the below example to find the difference between normal assignment operator and compound assignment operator. A compound assignment expression of the form E1 op= E2 is equivalent to E1 = (T) ((E1) op (E2)), where T is the type of E1, except that E1 is evaluated only once.

For example, the following code is correct:

and results in x having the value 7 because it is equivalent to:

Because here 6.6 which is double is automatically converted to short type without explicit type-casting.

Refer: When is the Type-conversion required?

Explanation: In the above example, we are using normal assignment operator. Here we are assigning an int (b+1=20) value to byte variable (i.e. b) that’s results in compile time error. Here we have to do type-casting to get the result.

Explanation: In the above example, we are using compound assignment operator. Here we are assigning an int (b+1=20) value to byte variable (i.e. b) apart from that we get the result as 20 because In compound assignment operator type-casting is automatically done by compile. Here we don’t have to do type-casting to get the result.

Reference: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-15.html#jls-15.26.2

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Assignment operators

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expression assignment-operator expression

assignment-operator : one of   =   *=   /=   %=   +=   -=   <<=   >>=   &=   ^=   |=

Assignment operators store a value in the object specified by the left operand. There are two kinds of assignment operations:

simple assignment , in which the value of the second operand is stored in the object specified by the first operand.

compound assignment , in which an arithmetic, shift, or bitwise operation is performed before storing the result.

All assignment operators in the following table except the = operator are compound assignment operators.

Assignment operators table

Operator keywords.

Three of the compound assignment operators have keyword equivalents. They are:

C++ specifies these operator keywords as alternative spellings for the compound assignment operators. In C, the alternative spellings are provided as macros in the <iso646.h> header. In C++, the alternative spellings are keywords; use of <iso646.h> or the C++ equivalent <ciso646> is deprecated. In Microsoft C++, the /permissive- or /Za compiler option is required to enable the alternative spelling.

Simple assignment

The simple assignment operator ( = ) causes the value of the second operand to be stored in the object specified by the first operand. If both objects are of arithmetic types, the right operand is converted to the type of the left, before storing the value.

Objects of const and volatile types can be assigned to l-values of types that are only volatile , or that aren't const or volatile .

Assignment to objects of class type ( struct , union , and class types) is performed by a function named operator= . The default behavior of this operator function is to perform a member-wise copy assignment of the object's non-static data members and direct base classes; however, this behavior can be modified using overloaded operators. For more information, see Operator overloading . Class types can also have copy assignment and move assignment operators. For more information, see Copy constructors and copy assignment operators and Move constructors and move assignment operators .

An object of any unambiguously derived class from a given base class can be assigned to an object of the base class. The reverse isn't true because there's an implicit conversion from derived class to base class, but not from base class to derived class. For example:

Assignments to reference types behave as if the assignment were being made to the object to which the reference points.

For class-type objects, assignment is different from initialization. To illustrate how different assignment and initialization can be, consider the code

The preceding code shows an initializer; it calls the constructor for UserType2 that takes an argument of type UserType1 . Given the code

the assignment statement

can have one of the following effects:

Call the function operator= for UserType2 , provided operator= is provided with a UserType1 argument.

Call the explicit conversion function UserType1::operator UserType2 , if such a function exists.

Call a constructor UserType2::UserType2 , provided such a constructor exists, that takes a UserType1 argument and copies the result.

Compound assignment

The compound assignment operators are shown in the Assignment operators table . These operators have the form e1 op = e2 , where e1 is a non- const modifiable l-value and e2 is:

an arithmetic type

a pointer, if op is + or -

a type for which there exists a matching operator *op*= overload for the type of e1

The built-in e1 op = e2 form behaves as e1 = e1 op e2 , but e1 is evaluated only once.

Compound assignment to an enumerated type generates an error message. If the left operand is of a pointer type, the right operand must be of a pointer type, or it must be a constant expression that evaluates to 0. When the left operand is of an integral type, the right operand must not be of a pointer type.

Result of built-in assignment operators

The built-in assignment operators return the value of the object specified by the left operand after the assignment (and the arithmetic/logical operation in the case of compound assignment operators). The resultant type is the type of the left operand. The result of an assignment expression is always an l-value. These operators have right-to-left associativity. The left operand must be a modifiable l-value.

In ANSI C, the result of an assignment expression isn't an l-value. That means the legal C++ expression (a += b) += c isn't allowed in C.

Expressions with binary operators C++ built-in operators, precedence, and associativity C assignment operators

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That actually explain what's on your next test, compound assignment operators, from class:, ap computer science a.

Compound assignment operators are shorthand notations that combine an arithmetic operation with the assignment operator. They allow you to perform an operation and assign the result to a variable in a single step.

congrats on reading the definition of Compound Assignment Operators . now let's actually learn it.

Related terms

This operator adds the value on the right side of it to the variable on the left side, and then assigns the result back to that variable.

-= operator : This operator subtracts the value on the right side of it from the variable on the left side, and then assigns the result back to that variable.

This operator multiplies the value on the right side of it with the variable on the left side, and then assigns the result back to that variable.

" Compound Assignment Operators " also found in:

Practice questions ( 1 ).

• Which arithmetic operators do not have compound assignment operators?

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Compound assignment operators

The compound assignment operators consist of a binary operator and the simple assignment operator. They perform the operation of the binary operator on both operands and store the result of that operation into the left operand, which must be a modifiable lvalue.

The following table shows the operand types of compound assignment expressions:

Note that the expression

is equivalent to

The following table lists the compound assignment operators and shows an expression using each operator:

Although the equivalent expression column shows the left operands (from the example column) twice, it is in effect evaluated only once.

Assignment and shorthand assignment operator in C

Quick links.

• Shorthand assignment

Assignment operator is used to assign value to a variable (memory location). There is a single assignment operator = in C. It evaluates expression on right side of = symbol and assigns evaluated value to left side the variable.

For example consider the below assignment table.

The RHS of assignment operator must be a constant, expression or variable. Whereas LHS must be a variable (valid memory location).

Shorthand assignment operator

C supports a short variant of assignment operator called compound assignment or shorthand assignment. Shorthand assignment operator combines one of the arithmetic or bitwise operators with assignment operator.

For example, consider following C statements.

The above expression a = a + 2 is equivalent to a += 2 .

Similarly, there are many shorthand assignment operators. Below is a list of shorthand assignment operators in C.