Difference between pre-increment and post-increment in a loop?

Question

Is there a difference in ++i and i++ in a for loop? Is it simply a syntax thing?

Answer 1

As this code shows (see the dissambled MSIL in the comments), the C# 3 compiler makes no distinction between i++ and ++i in a for loop. If the value of i++ or ++i were being taken, there would definitely be a difference (this was compiled in Visutal Studio 2008 / Release Build):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace PreOrPostIncrement
{
    class Program
    {
        static int SomethingToIncrement;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            PreIncrement(1000);
            PostIncrement(1000);
            Console.WriteLine("SomethingToIncrement={0}", SomethingToIncrement);
        }

        static void PreIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
            .method private hidebysig static void  PreIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
            {
              // Code size       25 (0x19)
              .maxstack  2
              .locals init ([0] int32 i)
              IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
              IL_0001:  stloc.0
              IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
              IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_000a:  add
              IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0010:  ldloc.0
              IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_0012:  add
              IL_0013:  stloc.0
              IL_0014:  ldloc.0
              IL_0015:  ldarg.0
              IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
              IL_0018:  ret
            } // end of method Program::PreIncrement             
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
            {
                ++SomethingToIncrement;
            }
        }

        static void PostIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
                .method private hidebysig static void  PostIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
                {
                  // Code size       25 (0x19)
                  .maxstack  2
                  .locals init ([0] int32 i)
                  IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
                  IL_0001:  stloc.0
                  IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
                  IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_000a:  add
                  IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0010:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_0012:  add
                  IL_0013:  stloc.0
                  IL_0014:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0015:  ldarg.0
                  IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
                  IL_0018:  ret
                } // end of method Program::PostIncrement
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
            {
                SomethingToIncrement++;
            }
        }
    }
}