Incrementing: x++ vs x += 1

Question

I\'ve read that many developers use x += 1 instead of x++ for clarity. I understand that x++ can be ambiguous for new developers and that x += 1 is always more clear, but i

Answer 1

Consider you're a lazy compiler implementer and wouldn't bother writing OPTIMIZATION routines in the machine-code-gen module.

x = x + 1;

would get translated to THIS code:

mov $[x],$ACC
iadd $1,$ACC
mov $ACC,$[x]

And x++ would get translated to:

incr $[x] ;increment by 1

if ONE instruction is executed in 1 machine cycle, then x = x + 1 would take 3 machine cycles where as x++ would take 1 machine cycle. (Hypothetical machine used here).

BUT luckily, most compiler implementers are NOT lazy and will write optimizations in the machine-code-gen module. So x = x+1 and x++ SHOULD take equal time to execute. :-P