Behaviour of increment and decrement operators in Python

Question

I notice that a pre-increment/decrement operator can be applied on a variable (like ++count). It compiles, but it does not actually change the value of the vari

Answer 1

While the others answers are correct in so far as they show what a mere + usually does (namely, leave the number as it is, if it is one), they are incomplete in so far as they don't explain what happens.

To be exact, +x evaluates to x.__pos__() and ++x to x.__pos__().__pos__().

I could imagine a VERY weird class structure (Children, don't do this at home!) like this:

class ValueKeeper(object):
    def __init__(self, value): self.value = value
    def __str__(self): return str(self.value)

class A(ValueKeeper):
    def __pos__(self):
        print 'called A.__pos__'
        return B(self.value - 3)

class B(ValueKeeper):
    def __pos__(self):
        print 'called B.__pos__'
        return A(self.value + 19)

x = A(430)
print x, type(x)
print +x, type(+x)
print ++x, type(++x)
print +++x, type(+++x)