Best method to increment a variable.

**AKS** · Dec 16 '07, 11:25 AM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Steve:
and is now redundant and I should use "++i" or "i=i+1".

I think that -prefix increment operator (++i)- is more effective and
its action are clear enough.

**AKS** · Dec 16 '07, 11:35 AM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

On 16 ÄÅË, 15:46, Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:

...and is now redundant and I should use "++i" or "i=i+1".

I think that -prefix increment operator (++i)- is more effective and
its actions are clear enough.

**The Natural Philosopher** · Dec 16 '07, 11:45 AM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

AKS wrote:

On 16 ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½, 15:46, Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:
>

>...and is now redundant and I should use "++i" or "i=i+1".

>
I think that -prefix increment operator (++i)- is more effective and
its actions are clear enough.
>

Dunno about Javascript, but when I examined the output of compiled C for

i=i+1;
i+=1;
i++;
++i;

They all resulted in exactly the same code.

a simple register INC operator..;-)

(or if 'i' was never referenced later, nothing at all. Modern compilers
are very good at eliminating unused variables ;-))

If there was many programmers outputting clean readable code that works,
instead of arguing about the most elegant and efficient constructs, the
world would probably be a better place.

**Doug Miller** · Dec 16 '07, 01:05 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

In article <5ecc086d-5d4c-4350-9230-cc04bbcfda8f@b1 g2000pra.google groups.com>, Steve <stephen.joung@ googlemail.comw rote:

>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
>"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

**Steve** · Dec 16 '07, 01:25 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, spamb...@milmac .com (Doug Miller) wrote:

In article <5ecc086d-5d4c-4350-9230-cc04bbcfd...@b1 g2000pra.google groups.com>, Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:
>

Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>
You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies book for
example, except they use x instead of i. And it works too, try it!

Cheers, Steve.

>
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

**The Natural Philosopher** · Dec 16 '07, 01:45 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Steve wrote:

On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, spamb...@milmac .com (Doug Miller) wrote:

>In article <5ecc086d-5d4c-4350-9230-cc04bbcfd...@b1 g2000pra.google groups.com>, Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:
>>

>>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
>>"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

>
Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies book for
example, except they use x instead of i. And it works too, try it!
>

Syntactically it makes sense.Increment 'i' *before* assigning its value
to 'i'...

But its unnecessarily verbose.

5 characters, same as i=i+1.

I always prefer i+=1; Four characters.

But i++; is 3, as is ++i;

<shrug>

Cheers, Steve.

>--
>Regards,
> Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>>
>It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

>

DS · Dec 16 '07, 02:15 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:46:22 -0800, Steve wrote:

Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable. I have been using this method
but I have been recently informed by some experts in the Google Maps API
group that this method is confusing and wasteful of resources and is now
redundant and I should use "++i" or "i=i+1". Any strong opinions in this
group?

Profile your code first! There is absolutely zero point in optimizing
something which may have 1% or less performance degradation on your code.
Instead, work at optimizing your code which consumes most of the CPU. Use
firebug's profiler to determine the functions your code is spending most
of its time.

Without taking any direct measurements, I would assume i++ and ++i will
be the most efficient when using most javascript engines because the
other expressions will probably introduce temporary variables.

**Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn** · Dec 16 '07, 06:15 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Steve wrote:

On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, spamb...@milmac .com (Doug Miller) wrote:

>In article <5ecc086d-5d4c-4350-9230-cc04bbcfd...@b1 g2000pra.google groups.com>, Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:

>>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
>>"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

>
Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies book for
example, except they use x instead of i. [...]

Hopefully you have a shredder.

PointedEars
--
var bugRiddenCrashP ronePieceOfJunk = (
navigator.userA gent.indexOf('M SIE 5') != -1
&& navigator.userA gent.indexOf('M ac') != -1
) // Plone, register_functi on.js:16

**Lee** · Dec 16 '07, 06:25 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Steve said:

>
>On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, spamb...@milmac .com (Doug Miller) wrote:

>>In article <5ecc086d-5d4c-4350-9230-cc04bbcfd...@b1 g2000pra.google groups.com>,
>>Steve <stephen.jo...@ googlemail.comw rote:
>>

>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
>"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>>
>You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

>
>Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies book for
>example, except they use x instead of i. And it works too, try it!

i=++i;

is equivalent to the two lines:

i++;
i=i;

So, yes, it works, but it's silly to do it that way.

--

**Evertjan.** · Dec 16 '07, 07:05 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Lee wrote on 16 dec 2007 in comp.lang.javas cript:

i=++i;
>
is equivalent to the two lines:
>
i++;
i=i;
>
So, yes, it works, but it's silly to do it that way.

Try figuring out [without testing]
what the alerted result of this would be:

var i = 6;
i = i++;
alert(i);

And now of this:

var i = 6;
i = (++i + i--)/2;
alert(i);

And now test it. ;-)

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

**Richard Cornford** · Dec 16 '07, 08:05 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

Steve wrote:

On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, Doug Miller wrote:

>Steve wrote:

>>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005),
>>show the "i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>>
>You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

>
Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies
book for example, except they use x instead of i. And it
works too, try it!

<snip>

The 'it works' criteria only gets you so far. The outcome of - i = ++
i; - is not different from - ++i; -, but the second operation in the
expression mans that the first will take (very fractionally) longer and
if the outcomes are the same that second operation must be redundant.

Remember that books on javascript are more likely to be written by
journalists than programmers, and even if written by programmers they
are unlikely to be good javascript programmers. David Flanagan's
"Javascript : The definitive Guide" is, by a very wide margin, the best
(or, more normally, the least bad) book available on javascript, but it
is quite obvious from its text that even its author has little practical
experience of browser scripting (certainly in comparison to his
experience of writing books) and in many cases is just parroting the
assertions of other, less then well informed, sources.

Richard.

**Steve** · Dec 16 '07, 09:15 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

On Dec 16, 8:59 pm, "Richard Cornford" <Rich...@litote s.demon.co.uk>
wrote:

Steve wrote:

On Dec 16, 2:03 pm, Doug Miller wrote:

Steve wrote:
>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005),
>show the "i=++i" method of incrementing a variable.

>

You sure about that? Or did you mean i = i+1 ?

>

Yes I'm sure, it is in the table on page 50 of the Dummies
book for example, except they use x instead of i. And it
works too, try it!

>
<snip>
>
The 'it works' criteria only gets you so far. The outcome of - i = ++
i; - is not different from - ++i; -, but the second operation in the
expression mans that the first will take (very fractionally) longer and
if the outcomes are the same that second operation must be redundant.
>
Remember that books on javascript are more likely to be written by
journalists than programmers, and even if written by programmers they
are unlikely to be good javascript programmers. David Flanagan's
"Javascript : The definitive Guide" is, by a very wide margin, the best
(or, more normally, the least bad) book available on javascript, but it
is quite obvious from its text that even its author has little practical
experience of browser scripting (certainly in comparison to his
experience of writing books) and in many cases is just parroting the
assertions of other, less then well informed, sources.
>
Richard.

So where did the good javascript programmers learn to program
javascript?

Steve

**Dr J R Stockton** · Dec 16 '07, 11:45 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

In comp.lang.javas cript message <13macj6927jut0 f@corp.supernew s.com>,
Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:12:54, DS <ds@bigpond.net posted:

>On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:46:22 -0800, Steve wrote:
>

>Several textbooks, including Javascript for Dummies (2005), show the
>"i=++i" method of incrementing a variable. I have been using this method
>but I have been recently informed by some experts in the Google Maps API
>group that this method is confusing and wasteful of resources and is now
>redundant and I should use "++i" or "i=i+1". Any strong opinions in this
>group?

>
>Profile your code first! There is absolutely zero point in optimizing
>something which may have 1% or less performance degradation on your code.
>Instead, work at optimizing your code which consumes most of the CPU. Use
>firebug's profiler to determine the functions your code is spending most
>of its time.

(1) It is even more important, where applicable, to optimise the
underlying algorithm that the code represents.

(2) While the difference in run speed between i++ ++i i+=1 and i=i+1
will except in artificial cases be negligible, the exercise of
considering and perhaps testing it may well lead to improved
understanding of how the language works.

It's a good idea to read the newsgroup c.l.j and its FAQ. See below.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon. co.uk Turnpike v6.05 IE 6
news:comp.lang. javascript FAQ <URL:http://www.jibbering.c om/faq/index.html>.
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/js-index.htmjscr maths, dates, sources.
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/TP/BP/Delphi/jscr/&c, FAQ items, links.

**Dr J R Stockton** · Dec 17 '07, 06:15 PM

Re: Best method to increment a variable.

In comp.lang.javas cript message <eba4d857-4c70-47e7-a3a2-f0f30c56a3ba@e2
3g2000prf.googl egroups.com>, Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:09:06, Steve
<stephen.joung@ googlemail.comp osted:

>
>So where did the good javascript programmers learn to program
>javascript?

They will have learned by applying a combination of experience,
intelligence, and suspicion to the available source materials.

Note that an intelligent five-year-old should be able to detect at least
one error in ECMA-262 3rd Edn, which therefore cannot be considered
infallible.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon. co.uk Turnpike v6.05 IE 6
news:comp.lang. javascript FAQ <URL:http://www.jibbering.c om/faq/index.html>.
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/js-index.htmjscr maths, dates, sources.
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/TP/BP/Delphi/jscr/&c, FAQ items, links.

Best method to increment a variable.

Best method to increment a variable.

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