Assignment

[Sai Priya]

int array[] = new int[5];
int index = 0;
array[index] = index = 3; // 1st element get assigned to 3, not the 4th element
Can anyone explain me this, i thought the answer was
array[3] = 3.
answer is array[0] =3;
but its wrong.

[Manfred Leonhardt]

Hi Sai,
This is just really an example showing operator precedence. In the line:
array[index] = index = 3;
the [] operator has the highest precedence:
Step 1: array[0] = index = 3;
Next we are just left with assignment operator which works from right to left:
Step 2: array[0] = (index = 3);
Step 3: array[0] = 3
Done with array[0] = 3 and index = 3!
Regards,
Manfred.

[Susmita Ganguly]

Is it because of operator precedence ? I thought it is a case of Evaluation order and Assignment order rule. Evaluation order is from left to right; so array(index) get evaluated first, and at that time since index had a value 0 the first element of the array is picked up.
Then because assignment order is from right to left, 3 is assigned to index first and then that value of index is assigned to array(0).
Also, is [] an operator ? I think it is not.
Please correct me if I am confusing others with wrong understanding.
Thanks.

[Bala Arul]

JLS �3.11, and �3.12 list 'separators' and 'operators'. Eventhough () and [] are called separators, they have high precedence over any operators. Because of that, they are always listed with operators in order of precedence in all books I have seen. Any how, because "[]" has the same highest precedence as "()", it is evaluated first.