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++ and -- are deprecated

Available from Swift 2.2

Paul Hudson      @twostraws

Swift 2.2 formally deprecates the ++ and -- operators, which means they still work but you'll get a warning when you use them. Deprecation is usually a first step towards removing something entirely, and in this case both of these operators will be removed in Swift 3.0.

In their place, you need to use += 1 and -= 1 instead. These operators have been there all along, and are not going away.

You might wonder why two long-standing operators are being removed, particularly when they exist in C, C#, Java, and – critically to its "joke" – C++. There are several answers, not least:

  1. Writing ++ rather than += 1 is hardly a dramatic time saving
  2. Although it's easy once you know it, ++ doesn't have an obvious meaning to people learning Swift, whereas += at least reads as "add and assign."
  3. C-style loops – one of the most common situations where ++ and -- were used – have also been deprecated, which brings me on to my next point…
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Other changes in Swift 2.2…

Download all Swift 2.2 changes as a playground Link to Swift 2.2 changes

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