You are using definitions that I am not familiar with. Maybe it's because we speak different programming languages :-) x = y is an expression statement in C++

You are using definitions that I am not familiar with. Maybe it's because we speak different programming languages :-) x = y is an expression statement in C++, which can be evaluated in an "if" for its side-effects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expression_(computer_science) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expression_(computer_science)