Difference between i++ and ++i in a loop?

Question

Is there a difference in ++i and i++ in a for loop? Is it simply a syntax thing?

Answer 1

In javascript due to the following i++ may be better to use:

var i=1;
alert(i++); // before, 1. current, 1. after, 2.
alert(i); // before, 2. current, 2. after, 2.
alert(++i); // before, 2. current, 3 after, 3.

While arrays (I think all) and some other functions and calls use 0 as a starting point you would have to set i to -1 to make the loop work with the array when using ++i.

When using i++ the following value will use the increased value. You could say i++ is the way humans count, cause you can start with a 0.

Answer 2

Pre-increment ++i increments the value of i and evaluates to the new incremented value.

int i = 3;
int preIncrementResult = ++i;
Assert( preIncrementResult == 4 );
Assert( i == 4 );

Post-increment i++ increments the value of i and evaluates to the original non-incremented value.

int i = 3;
int postIncrementResult = i++;
Assert( postIncrementtResult == 3 );
Assert( i == 4 );

---

In C++, the pre-increment is usually preferred where you can use either.

This is because if you use post-increment, it can require the compiler to have to generate code that creates an extra temporary variable. This is because both the previous and new values of the variable being incremented need to be held somewhere because they may be needed elsewhere in the expression being evaluated.

So, in C++ at least, there can be a performance difference which guides your choice of which to use.

This is mainly only a problem when the variable being incremented is a user defined type with an overridden ++ operator. For primitive types (int, etc) there's no performance difference. But, it's worth sticking to the pre-increment operator as a guideline unless the post-increment operator is definitely what's required.

There's some more discussion here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170405054235/http://en.allexperts.com/q/C-1040/Increment-operators.htm

In C++ if you're using STL, then you may be using for loops with iterators. These mainly have overridden ++ operators, so sticking to pre-increment is a good idea. Compilers get smarter all the time though, and newer ones may be able to perform optimizations that mean there's no performance difference - especially if the type being incremented is defined inline in header file (as STL implementations often are) so that the compiler can see how the method is implemented and can then know what optimizations are safe to perform. Even so, it's probably still worth sticking to pre-increment because loops get executed lots of times and this means a small performance penalty could soon get amplified.

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In other languages such as C# where the ++ operator can't be overloaded there is no performance difference. Used in a loop to advance the loop variable, the pre and post increment operators are equivalent.

Correction: overloading ++ in C# is allowed. It seems though, that compared to C++, in c# you cannot overload the pre and post versions independently. So, I would assume that if the result of calling ++ in C# is not assigned to a variable or used as part of a complex expression, then the compiler would reduce the pre and post versions of ++ down to code that performs equivalently.

Answer 3

As this code shows (see the dissambled MSIL in the comments), the C# 3 compiler makes no distinction between i++ and ++i in a for loop. If the value of i++ or ++i were being taken, there would definitely be a difference (this was compiled in Visutal Studio 2008 / Release Build):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace PreOrPostIncrement
{
    class Program
    {
        static int SomethingToIncrement;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            PreIncrement(1000);
            PostIncrement(1000);
            Console.WriteLine("SomethingToIncrement={0}", SomethingToIncrement);
        }

        static void PreIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
            .method private hidebysig static void  PreIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
            {
              // Code size       25 (0x19)
              .maxstack  2
              .locals init ([0] int32 i)
              IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
              IL_0001:  stloc.0
              IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
              IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_000a:  add
              IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0010:  ldloc.0
              IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_0012:  add
              IL_0013:  stloc.0
              IL_0014:  ldloc.0
              IL_0015:  ldarg.0
              IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
              IL_0018:  ret
            } // end of method Program::PreIncrement             
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
            {
                ++SomethingToIncrement;
            }
        }

        static void PostIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
                .method private hidebysig static void  PostIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
                {
                  // Code size       25 (0x19)
                  .maxstack  2
                  .locals init ([0] int32 i)
                  IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
                  IL_0001:  stloc.0
                  IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
                  IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_000a:  add
                  IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0010:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_0012:  add
                  IL_0013:  stloc.0
                  IL_0014:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0015:  ldarg.0
                  IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
                  IL_0018:  ret
                } // end of method Program::PostIncrement
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
            {
                SomethingToIncrement++;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

The question is:

Is there a difference in ++i and i++ in a for loop?

The answer is: No.

Why does each and every other answer have to go into detailed explanations about pre and post incrementing when this is not even asked?

This for-loop:

for (int i = 0; // Initialization
     i < 5;     // Condition
     i++)       // Increment
{
   Output(i);
}

Would translate to this code without using loops:

int i = 0; // Initialization

loopStart:
if (i < 5) // Condition
{
   Output(i);

   i++ or ++i; // Increment

   goto loopStart;
}

Now does it matter if you put i++ or ++i as increment here? No it does not as the return value of the increment operation is insignificant. i will be incremented AFTER the code's execution that is inside the for loop body.

Answer 5

i++ ; ++i ; both are similar as they are not used in an expression.

class A {

     public static void main (String []args) {

     int j = 0 ;
     int k = 0 ;
     ++j;
     k++;
    System.out.println(k+" "+j);

}}

prints out :  1 1

Answer 6

There is no difference if you are not using the value after increment in the loop.

for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i){
cout<<i;       
}
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++){
cout<<i;       
}

Both the loops will print 0123.

But the difference comes when you uses the value after increment/decrement in your loop as below:

Pre Increment Loop:

for (int i = 0,k=0; i < 4; k=++i){
cout<<i<<" ";       
cout<<k<<" "; 
}

Output: 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3

Post Increment Loop:

for (int i = 0, k=0; i < 4; k=i++){
cout<<i<<" ";       
cout<<k<<" "; 
}

Output: 0 0 1 0 2 1 3 2

I hope the difference is clear by comparing the output. Point to note here is the increment/decrement is always performed at the end of the for loop and hence the results can be explained.