Question:

Consider the following Java code snippet:

int a = 5;
int b = 9;
int c = 3;

boolean x = a > b && c++ < b;
boolean y = b % c == 0 || a++ > c;
boolean z = a == 6 && b == 10 || c > a;

What are the final values of a, b, and c after executing the above code?

Explain each step in detail.

Answer:

The final values of a, b, and c after executing the code would be:

• a = 5
• b = 9
• c = 4

Explanation:

1. Line 1: int a = 5; - Initializes variable a with the value 5.

2. Line 2: int b = 9; - Initializes variable b with the value 9.

3. Line 3: int c = 3; - Initializes variable c with the value 3.

4. Line 5: boolean x = a > b && c++ < b; - Evaluates the expression a > b && c++ < b. Firstly, a > b is false (5 > 9 is false) which short-circuits the && operator. Therefore, c++ is not executed, and x is assigned the value false.

5. Line 6: boolean y = b % c == 0 || a++ > c; - Evaluates the expression b % c == 0 || a++ > c. Firstly, b % c == 0 evaluates to true (9 % 3 == 0 is true). Since it uses the || operator, the right side of the expression (a++ > c where a is still 5) is not executed as the left side is already true. y is assigned the value true.

6. Line 7: boolean z = a == 6 && b == 10 || c > a; - Evaluates the expression a == 6 && b == 10 || c > a. Firstly, a == 6 is false (5 == 6 is false) which short-circuits the && operator. Therefore, b == 10 is not executed. Now, we have c > a (4 > 5 is false), so z is assigned the value false.

7. After executing the above code, the final values of a, b, and c are a = 5, b = 9, and c = 4. The value of c is 4 because the expression c++ < b from boolean x = a > b && c++ < b was not executed earlier, and the value of c was incremented from 3 to 4.