I don't understand why

Question

What is the output of the following code?
int f=1, i=2;
while(++i<5)
f*=i;
System.out.println(f);
//output is 12
may you please explainto me why?

Answer 1

it will work for 3 and 4
cycle1) 3 <5 [true] ... f*=3 ==> f=1*3=3
cycle2)4 <5 [true] ... f*=4 ==> f= 3*4= 12
//then loop stops as ++4 ... ie 5 is not smaller than 5

Answer 2

In the beginning i value was 2, as it enters the loop it increases immediately to 3 due to the pre-increment, in the loop body f is multiplied by i (1*3 so f=3) then i is again increased to 4, and f is again multiplied by i, by then f value was 3 (3*4 so f=12), the next time it is checked in while() i is incremented again to become 5, the loop ends because the condition is false (i is no longer less than 5) and f was outputted to the screen with its value=12.

Hth, cmiiw

Answer 3

Thanks a lot