Shorthand Assignments

There is a variation on the assignment statement, sometimes referred to as a shorthand

assignment, that simplifies the coding of a certain type of assignment operation. For

example,

x = x+10;

can be written as

x += 10;

The operator += tells the compiler to assign to x the value of x plus 10.

This shorthand works for all the binary operators (those that require two

operands). In general, statements like:

var = var operator expression

can be rewritten as

var operator = expression

For another example,

x = x-100;

is the same as

x -= 100;

Shorthand notation is widely used in professionally written C/C++ programs; you

should become familiar with it.