In C, that is really because Unary minus (negation) has precedence over binary operations. +a - b; // equivalent to (+a) - b, NOT +(a - b) -c + d; // e

In C, that is really because Unary minus (negation) has precedence over binary operations. +a - b; // equivalent to (+a) - b, NOT +(a - b) -c + d; // equivalent to (-c) + d, NOT -(c + d) https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/operator_arithmetic https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/operator_arithmet... +-e; // equivalent to +(-e), the unary + is a no-op if “e” is a built-in type // because any possible promotion is performed during negation already The same doesn't apply to, !! Which is applied as iterated binary operations (IIRC) I am pretty sure the decriment operator came around well after that quirk was established.