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First or second? is a medium quant interview question on language knowledge in Cpp.
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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.