operator precedence

[cyril vidal]

Hi,
I would have a question about operator's precedence.
Here's an example extracted from Dan's mock exam:

 
class M {
  static int m(int i) {
    System.out.print(i + ", ");
    return i;
  }
  public static void main(String s[]) {
    m(m(1) + m(2) % m(3) * m(4));
  }
}

 

Answer: Prints: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9,
I understand the order of four digits 1, 2, 3, 4 which indicates that, as said in a precedent topic in Javaranch about operator, the order of operations has nothing to do with operators precedence, which tells about place of parenthesis.
However, I don't understand the last digit, 9.
For me, I thought that * had the highest precedence compared to %
so
m(1) + m(2) % m(3) * m(4)
is equivalent for me to
m(1) + (m(2) % (m(3) * m(4)))
and I would wait 1 + (2%12) = 1 + 2 = 3 as output.
Instead, as far as I understand the result,
m(1) + m(2) % m(3) * m(4)
is equivalent to
m(1) + ((m(2) % (m(3)) * m(4)) which gives
1 + (2 *4) =9 as output.
Am I wrong in saying that * has higher priority than %, and is it more correct to say that they have the same precedence, and hence, are evaluated left to right, so % before *?
I'm sure i'm missing something here, but I don't see what exactly.
I would be very grateful for any assistance,
Thanks in advance for your help,
Cyril.

[Marlene Miller]

The 3 operators * / % all have the same precedence

[Damien Howard]

Try this website http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/expressions.html for operator precedence.
It is a little tricky though because in some cases it seems precedence has to do with () placement not actual evaluation precedence. Marlene explained it in some earlier posts. Do a search on some of the recent posts and you should be able to find it.

[Damien Howard]

This link might ne of help http://www.coderanch.com/t/242411/java-programmer-SCJP/certification/Dan-exam and it also contains a link to Marlene's explanation I was mentioning in my previous post.

[cyril vidal]

OK. Thanks all for your answers and links.
Here the key is that the 3 operators * / % all have the same precedence.
This was not well explained in my book Complete Java 2 certification Study Guide.
P.32 we can read:
Unary: ...
Arithmetic * / %
+ -
...
...
Bitwise & ^|
So * / % and & ^| are presented exactly in the same form, and I've wrongly deduced from this that * had precedence on / % exactly as & had precedence on ^ and |.
Cyril.

[Marlene Miller]

Here is the scoop on precedence:
postfix operators expr++ expr--
unary operators ++expr --expr +expr ~ !
cast (type)expr
multiplicative * / %
additive + -
shift << >> >>>
relational < > >= <= instanceof
equality == !=
AND &
exclusive OR ^
inclusive OR |
conditional AND &&
conditional OR ||
conditional ?:
assignment = op=
I am not sure whether cast has lower precedence than the other unary operators. My two reliable sources (JLS, JPL) seem to disagree. I cannot think of a way to test it.
Operator precedence is the "stickiness" of operators relative to each other. Precedence tells you how to add parentheses.
[ July 13, 2003: Message edited by: Marlene Miller ]