In a lot of languages a = a + b can be written as a += b In case of numerical operations, a + b is same as b + a, so the single compound operator suffices. Also, a = a - b can be written as a -=b ...

I spotted Java's +=, -=, *=, /= compound assignment operators (good question :)), but it had a part that I don't quite understand. Borrowing from that question: int i = 5; long l = 8; The...

Question : char x = 'a'; x += 3; // ok x = x + 3; // compile time error

Is: x -= y; equivalent to: x = x - y;