In JavaScript (JS), ++
has higher precedence than +=
or =
. In trying to better understand operator execution order in JS, I'm hoping to see why the following code snippet results in 30
being printed?
let i = 1
let j = (i+=2) * (i+=3 + ++i);
console.log(j); //prints 30
Naively, it seems like the i+=2
is executing first, resulting in 3 * (i+=3 + ++i)
, and then 3
is being used as the starting value for i
for both the i+=3
and ++i
(resulting in 3 * (6 + 4)
). But I'm wondering, if that is the case, why either the ++i
or i+=3
is not having its side effect in assigning to i
occur before the other executes?
Summary of the discussion in comments:
Simplified example:
let i = 1
let j = i += 3 + ++i;
console.log(j); //prints 6
i += 3 + ++i
is the same as i += (3 + ++i)
and not (i += 3) + (++i)
In the ECMAScript specification we can read that left-hand side expression is evaluated first
- Let lref be ? Evaluation of LeftHandSideExpression.
Then after right-hand side calculations in step 7
- Let r be ? ApplyStringOrNumericBinaryOperator(lval, opText, rval).
So i += (3 + ++i)
is really:
let lhs = i // 1
let rhs = 3 + ++i // 3 + 2
i = lhs + rhs // 6
or in thee example from the question:
let lhs = i // 3
let rhs = 3 + ++i // 3 + 4
i = lhs + rhs // 10