int a=3; int b=2; b=a++; cout<<++b; Can someone explain how we arrived at 4?

Question

I just don't understand how this works.

int a=3; a=3, okay
int b=2; b=2, got it
b=a++;

b (which equals 2) is equal to a (which equals 3) +1, so 2=3+1? what?

cout<<++b;

How the hecc did we arrive at 4? I think I need the postfix and prefix functions explained to me simpler.

Answer 1

++variable does addition before statement is evaluated (prefix)
variable++ does addtion after statement is evaluated (postfix)

Edit: A simple way to understand these terms is to break up the words into their literal meanings.
pre(latin:before)-fix(well, fix) = fix the calculation before we do anything.
post(after)- etc... etc..

Answer 2

b=a++ means:

b = a; # first “b” get the value of “a”
a = a + 1; # “a” increased after the assignment

cout<<++b means:

b = b + 1; # “b” increased before the cout
cout<<b; # print to the screen

Answer 3

b = a++;
it assigns a into b so b = 3 then increment a

cout << ++b;
it first increment b so b = 4 then print b. Therefore, it prints 4