Question - Code Order Of Operations

[samspade]

I've been looking into some of the basics of GML recently and when I was looking at operator precedence I came across this page in the manual: Expressions. It claims that: "When doing multiple operations in a single expression, it is very important that you use brackets () to separate out the order of operation, as different platforms may perform them differently if not explicitly stated in this way."

This makes some sense, however, it goes on to add that:

a = b == c || d;
a = (b == c || d); //better
a = ((b == c) || d); //best

That seems ridiculous. The only reason for the middle one being better is if this is a possible evaluation of the first line:

(a = b) == c || d;

Is it really this undefined? I would have assumed there was at least some consistency for order across all platforms on basic stuff like assignment or comparisons. For example:

//would this ever be evaluated as
if 5 * 2 == 10 * 1 {
}

//this
if 5 * (2 == 10) * 1 {
}

 

[Nocturne]

The example is meant to illustrate a point, not be taken as a "real world" example.

Basically, the manual is saying, "don't rely on order of operations across all platforms as that may not work or may be changed behind the scenes". It's good practice to be explicit and it prevents future potential errors when you compile using YYC or on another target platform.