First or second?

Understanding C++ evaluation order in this code snippet

This is a medium-difficulty C++ question that tests your knowledge of operator precedence and evaluation order — subtle but critical distinctions in C++. It requires you to trace through a short code snippet and predict its output, which demands careful attention to how the compiler processes expressions.

Questions like this appear in technical interviews because they expose gaps between casual C++ familiarity and the precise understanding needed in performance-critical code. The answer hinges on knowing not just which operators bind tightest, but also the left-to-right (or right-to-left) evaluation guarantees the standard provides — and where those guarantees are weaker than many candidates assume.

• Operator precedence and associativity
• Sequencing and the order of side effects
• Undefined vs. well-defined behaviour in expressions