How can you overrule the precedence given by c?

Answer 1

You cannot overrule precedence in C, however you can use the rules of precedence themselves to dictate the order of evaluation. Parenthesis has the highest precedence therefore you can use them to change the order of evaluation. Consider the following function:

void foo (int x, int y, int z) {

int a, b;

a = x + y * z;

b = (x + y) * z;

}

Multiplication has a higher precedence than addition so given the values x=2, y=3 and z=4, the value of a will be 14. Parenthesis has a higher precedence than multiplication so given the same values, the value of b will be 20. Note that you haven't actually overruled precedence, you've simply used the rules of precedence themselves to dictate the order of evaluation.