Ruby Parenthesis syntax exception with i++ ++i

Question

Why does this throw a syntax error? I would expect it to be the other way around...

>> foo = 5
>> foo = foo++ + ++foo                                     


        

Answer 1

Ruby does not support this syntax. Use i+=1 instead.

As @Dylan mentioned, Ruby is reading your code as foo + (+(+(+(+foo)))). Basically it's reading all the + signs (after the first one) as marking the integer positive.