What is the difference between a++ and ++a in coding?

The answer to this question is very simple.

1. ++a means first change then use the variable.
2. a++ means first use then change the value of variable.

Both a++ and ++a basically performs the same function: they increase the value of variable a by 1. But having said that, the post-increment(a++) and the pre-increment(++a) operators work differently.

When we assign a++ to any variable, it takes the current value of a, and then increments the value of a.
When we assign ++a to any variable, it first increments the value of a, and then assigns it to the variable.

For example, here is a snippet of code in C++:

int a=1; //storing a number in a

int x=a++; //using the post-increment operator

cout<<”x =”<<x<<endl; //displays current value of x

cout<<”a =”<<a; //displays current value of a

The output is:

x =1

a =2

Whereas, when we see the next snippet of code,

int a=1; //storing a number in a

int x=++a; //using the pre-increment operator

cout<<”x =”<<x<<endl; //displays current value of x

cout<<”a =”<<a; //displays current value of a

The output is:

x =2

a =2

Hope the above example clear the concept of the difference between a++ and ++a in coding.