Operators and Expressions

Abstract

Operators are the verbs of the C language that let you calculate values. C’s rich set of operators is one of its distinguishing characteristics. In the preceding chapters, you have already seen a number of C operators, such as + (addition), /(division), < (less than), and = (assignment). The operator symbols are composed of one or more special characters. If an operator consists of more than one character, you must enter the characters without any intervening spaces:

$$x \Leftarrow y\;/ * \,legal\,expression\,*/$$

$$x \Leftarrow y\;/ * \,illegal\,expression\,*/$$

We must either institute conventional forms of expression or else pretend that we have nothing to express.

George Santayana, Soliloquies in England