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Why does Swift have compound assignment operators?

Paul Hudson    @twostraws   

Updated for Xcode 15

If you want to add 5 to a score variable, you’re perfectly able to write score = score + 5 if you want. Swift also allows us to write score += 5 to get the same result, but why?

Well, it isn’t for performance reasons – under the hood, Swift turns score += 5 into score = score + 5 just as if we had written it.

Instead, they are just available as a shorthand: a simpler way to write the same thing. This means less typing for us, less code to read, and also less chance of making mistakes – a win all around!

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