Bob Ammerman wrote:
>> Yes, it's standard C/C++ notation, but it's not "natural" and perhaps 
>> that
>> is the reason why most other languages don't let you do it.
>
> I find the C/C++ concept/notation very natural.
>
> If I ask you to add 3 to a total, do you think in terms of:
>
> Total = Total + 3
>
> or
>
> Total += 3
>
> I submit that most people think (in English at least) more like the second
> than the first.

The second one reads as "total plus equals three", which is nonsense. So far 
I like Olin's suggestion to use an arrow the best:

    Total + 3 -> Total

..which would read as "total plus three, store result in total". TI-89's 
BASIC does it this way (they actually use an arrow character).

Although when I first got into programming (which was some time *after* 
dinosaurs became extinct ;-P ), a statement in Commodore BASIC:

    X = X + 1

..made total sense to me. I was 14 years old, spoke very little English, had 
zero prior experience with programming and nobody around able to help.

I don't want to leave the impression that I find +=, &=, and the like 
difficult, but when I first stumbled across them, they did seem rather odd. 
One more time for the record: I don't feel strongly about this issue (not 
nearly as strong as I feel about self documenting code vs line-by-line 
comments).

> Also, in favor of the C/C++ way, what about something like:
>
>
> board_array[ nKingsColumn, iPawnRank ] = board_array[ nKingsColumn,
> iPawnRank ] + 3;
>
> vs.
>
> board_array[ nKingsColumn, iPawnRank ] += 3;
>
> when the subscripts get messy the C/C++ way makes it very clear what you 
> are
> trying to do.

I'm not sure exactly what you're doing with this array, but I think in this 
case I would use another variable to store the intermediate result. And I 
probably wouldn't use a "magic number". It begs the question, "Why 3?". And 
then of course you _have to_ have a comment to explain what the statement 
does -- a self-fulfilling profecy.

> and if the subscript involves side affects (function call, n++ or 
> whatever)
> you really have to do it the C/C++ way:
>
>    myArray[determine_subscript()] += computed_value();

Ouch! :(  This is the kind of code I would expect from a programmer who 
codes for "job security".

Vitaliy 

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