Operator Precedence and Associativity in Programming

Operator Precedence is a rule that determines the order in which operators are evaluated in an expression. It defines which operators take precedence over others when they are combined in the same expression. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated before operators with lower precedence. Parentheses can be used to override the default precedence and explicitly specify the order of evaluation.

Operator Associativity is a rule that determines the grouping of operators with the same precedence in an expression when they appear consecutively. It specifies the direction in which operators of equal precedence are evaluated. The two common associativities are:

1. Left to Right (Left-Associative): Operators with left associativity are evaluated from left to right. For example, in the expression a + b + c, the addition operators have left associativity, so the expression is equivalent to (a + b) + c.
2. Right to Left (Right-Associative): Operators with right associativity are evaluated from right to left. For example, in the expression a = b = c, the assignment operator = has right associativity, so the expression is equivalent to a = (b = c).

Operators in programming are essential symbols that perform operations on variables and values, enabling tasks like arithmetic calculations, logical comparisons, and bitwise manipulations. In this article, we will learn about the basics of operators and their types.