++ vs +=

Question

From what I understand about using ++ and += they essentially are supposed to do the same thing however when I used ++ in the following code, it return an error of "unexpected number" for what followed the ++.  Changing it to += solved the issue.  Why is that?
***this code did not work.
```javascript
var text = "test loop";
var loopNum = 0;
var loop = function(){
    while(loopNum < 3){
        loopNum++1;
        console.log(text);
    }
};
loop();
```
***This code did work.
```javascript
var text = "test loop";
var loopNum = 0;
var loop = function(){
    while(loopNum < 3){
        loopNum+=1;
        console.log(text);
    }
};
loop();
```

Michael Hulet · Answer

The difference between ++ and += is that the ++ operator doesn't take a number on the left, and only adds 1 to the number on the left, but the += operator takes a number on each side, and adds the number on the right to the number on the left. For example:
```javascript
var number = 0;
//These statements are equivalent
number++;
number += 1;
//This statement adds 2 to number
number += 2;
//This statement is invalid and illegal
number ++ 2;
```

Erik Nuber · Answer

The ++ operator just adds one to a given variable so i++ would increase i by one
+= can be used to add to an existing variable a specific amount or just about anything
ex:

lastName = Nuber;
fullName = Erik;
fullName += " ";
fullName += lastName;

This woudl return Erik Nuber with the space between beacause I added it in.
This would add lastName to the fullName. This can be cleaned up and put on one line but using it this way to make a point.
In your first code try just removing ++1 and just use ++

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Andrew Shumway

Andrew Shumway

++ vs +=

2 Answers

Michael Hulet

Michael Hulet

Erik Nuber

Erik Nuber