Operators

Operators are used to perform operations on variables and constants. This section talks about the most frequently used operators in XS.

1. Arithmetic operators

Operator	Expression	Description	Example	Result
+	a + b	Adds a and b.	2 + 3	5
-	a - b	Subtracts b from a.	5 - 3	2
*	a * b	Multiplies a by b.	2 * 3	6
/	a / b	Divides a by b.	6 / 2	3
%	a % b	Calculates the remainder of a divided by b.	5 % 2	1

2. Comparison operators

Operator	Expression	Description	Example	Result
==	a == b	Checks if a is equal to b.	2 == 3	false
!=	a != b	Checks if a is not equal to b.	2 != 3	true
<	a < b	Checks if a is less than b.	2 < 3	true
<=	a <= b	Checks if a is less than or equal to b.	2 <= 3	true
>	a > b	Checks if a is greater than b.	2 > 3	false
>=	a >= b	Checks if a is greater than or equal to b.	2 >= 3	false

3. Logical operators

Operator	Expression	Description	Example	Result
&&	a && b	Checks if a and b are both true.	true && false	false
||	a || b	Checks if a or b is true.	true || false	true

4. Assignment operators

Assignment operators involve assigning a value to a variable. The variable to which the value is assigned is always on the left side of the operator, and must have been defined before.

Operator	Expression	Description	Example	Result
=	a = b	Assigns the value of b to a.	a = 2	The value of a is now 2
+=	a += b	Adds b to a, then assigns the result to a.	a += 2	The value of a has increased by 2
-=	a -= b	Subtracts b from a, then assigns the result to a.	a -= 2	The value of a has decreased by 2
*=	a *= b	Multiplies a by b, then assigns the result to a.	a *= 2	The value of a has doubled
/=	a /= b	Divides a by b, then assigns the result to a.	a /= 2	The value of a has halved
%=	a %= b	Calculates the remainder of a divided by b, then assigns the result to a.	a %= 2	The value of a has changed

5. Increment and decrement operators

Increment and decrement operators are used to increase or decrease the value of a variable by 1.

Operator	Expression	Description	Example	Result
++	a++	Increases the value of a by 1, then assigns the result to a.	a++	The value of a has increased by 1
--	a--	Decreases the value of a by 1, then assigns the result to a.	a--	The value of a has decreased by 1

6. Concatenation operator

The concatenation operator is used to combine two strings into one. It is represented by the + symbol. For example, "Hello" + " " + "world" will result in the string "Hello world".

It is also possible to concatenate a string with any other data type. For that, the quotation marks are not used. For example, "Hello " + 2 will result in the string "Hello 2".

7. Ternary operator

The ternary operator is a special operator that takes three operands. It is used to shorten an if statement.

Syntax of the ternary operator

condition ? expression1 : expression2

The ternary operator evaluates condition. If it is true, it evaluates expression1 and returns its value. Otherwise, it evaluates expression2 and returns its value.

Some examples of the ternary operator

// (assuming that all variables have been defined.)

// Use all settlers to gather wood if we need a town center asap and we
// don't have enough wood, otherwise use the default distribution.
int numWoodGatherers = numTCs == 0 && woodAmount < 600 ? numSettlers : numSettlers * woodGathererPercentage;

8. Operator precedence

Operator precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated. For example, in the expression 2 + 3 * 4, the multiplication is evaluated first, then the addition. This is because the multiplication operator has a higher precedence than the addition operator.

Operators with a higher precedence are evaluated before operators with a lower precedence.

Precedence	Operator(s)
1	++, --
2	*, /, %
3	+, -
4	<, <=, >, >=
5	==, !=
6	&&
7	||
8	=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=
9	? :

9. Using parentheses

Parentheses can be used to override the default precedence of operators. For example, in the expression 2 + 3 * 4, the multiplication is evaluated first, then the addition. However, if you want the addition to be evaluated first, you can use parentheses: (2 + 3) * 4.

Parentheses can be nested, and the expression inside the innermost pair of parentheses is evaluated first.