Question

explain prefix increment operator vs. postfix increment operator, give an example in Java code, explain what's happening at the memory location of your variable(s) at each step. (include declaring the variable and the value it holds after each Java statement).

Answer 1

Pre-Increment increments the value immediately, Post increment increments the value only after executing the entire line.

Explanation:

class PrePostIncOperator {

   public static void main(String[] args){

         int x=5;    

         System.out.println(x++);          

         System.out.println("\n"+ ++x);    

        }

   }

Let us understand the program.

int x = 5 => Initializes the value of 5 to the variable x

System.out.println(x++);  This is the post increment operator. The value of x gets incremented only after printing the value. That is first System.out.println(x) will be executed and then the increment operator takes place once it finds the ";" that is the end of the statement. The memory which holds the value of x is changed only after executing the statement.

System.out.println("\n"+ ++x);     Here the value gets incremented and immediately assigns to the memory.