The concepts in Operators and Expressions, have me completely lost ...

Zach,

Lets break down that code: d = ++a

First, d =

This is how you assign any value to the variable named d. It could be d = 5, or d = 25. Whatever value you want it to be. Or you can do this, d = 5+6. d would then equal 11. So far easy stuff.

Next, the a. Lets go thru the same steps but with a.

Lets pretend a=5 We can say d = a, or d = 5 Or we can say d = a +1, or d = 6.

Last, the ++

Sometimes in your code you need a number to increment. That is increase by one. Think of a game app. You shoot a bad guy and your score goes up by one.

Could be written like this, score = score + 1

++ or -- is just a shortcut for us lazy coders it means plus 1 or minus 1.

So we can shorten score=score+1 to score++

You can put the ++ or -- on either side of your variable depending on when you want it incremented.

Lets put it all together.

d= ++a. Says first, take a and increment by 1, then thats what d equals. So if a = 5, then we would increment a to 6. Then make d = a or 6.

If we put the ++ on the otherside of the a like this d = a++, what happens?

d = a++ says first d = a or 5, THEN increment a after to 6. Leaving d with the old value of 5.

a++ says add 1 after checking value ++a says add 1 first then check value

Hope this helps