Why avoid increment (“++”) and decrement (“--”) operators in JavaScript?

Question

One of the tips for jslint tool is:

++ and --
The ++ (increment) and -- (decrement) operators have been known to contribute

Answer 1

In a loop it's harmless, but in an assignment statement it can lead to unexpected results:

var x = 5;
var y = x++; // y is now 5 and x is 6
var z = ++x; // z is now 7 and x is 7

Whitespace between the variable and the operator can lead to unexpected results as well:

a = b = c = 1; a ++ ; b -- ; c; console.log('a:', a, 'b:', b, 'c:', c)

In a closure, unexpected results can be an issue as well:

var foobar = function(i){var count = count || i; return function(){return count++;}}

baz = foobar(1);
baz(); //1
baz(); //2


var alphabeta = function(i){var count = count || i; return function(){return ++count;}}

omega = alphabeta(1);
omega(); //2
omega(); //3

And it triggers automatic semicolon insertion after a newline:

var foo = 1, bar = 2, baz = 3, alpha = 4, beta = 5, delta = alpha
++beta; //delta is 4, alpha is 4, beta is 6

preincrement/postincrement confusion can produce off-by-one errors that are extremely difficult to diagnose. Fortunately, they are also complete unnecessary. There are better ways to add 1 to a variable.

References

• JSLint Help: Increment and Decrement Operators