Having troubles understanding the short hand thing, for example x+=y is the same as x=x+y, how can x=x and x=x+y

Question

is this how the lesson was ment to be explained or was a mistake made? am i looking at it wrong? because if i put say: x=5 then on a lower line put x=4 that will throw an error.

Answer 1

look at this cheatsheet and maybe it will help
https://www.vikingcodeschool.com/professional-development-with-ruby/ruby-cheat-sheet

Answer 2

Wandy Wexler Weslon
Yes.

Answer 3

I am not familiar with ruby but x += y also exists in java.

for example x = 4. means x has the value 4.
x += 5 means x gets the value of itself + 5.
x = 4 + 5 = 9

Answer 4

About the error:

I tried this:

x = 5
x = 4
print(x)

Works. Output: 4

Answer 5

ok one more question, so after you do the x+=y or what ever, x is storing that new value after that correct?

Answer 6

In Java it works like this:
int x=1; //now x stores 1
int y=2; //now y stores 2
x+=y; /*now y stays 2, but we have to add the value of y to x(which is 1 before the operation. And make x store the new value. So, 1+2 = 3 and now x=3; y =2*/

Answer 7

[In Java]
Yes, x stores the new value after these operaions:
=
+=
-=
/=
%=

Don't mix up == and =. The first one is checking if the numbers are the same. The other is assigning.

For example,
if (x==y) { /*comparing without assigning new values*/
System.out.println ("x and y are the same numbers");
}

x=y; /*assigning value of y to x. Now they both have the same value*/