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From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: >< swap operator
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2018 08:36:28 -0700
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Bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
[...]
> So if I take the expression "a[i+1]" which I can use like this inside 
> the argument list here:
>
>     f(a[i+1]);
>
> you say I can't take the same expression and write it as a standalone 
> statement like this:
>
>     a[i+1];
>
> Even though, actually, I can.

This will be my last attempt to explain this to you.  I'm almost
certainly wasting my time.

To avoid any confusion, I'm using `...` to separate C code from English
text.

`a[i+1]` is an expression.  It is not, and cannot be, a statement.

`a[i+1];` is a statement.  It is not, and cannot be, an expression.

You cannot use `a[i+1]` as a statement.  You can turn it into a
statement by adding a semicolon.

It is the semicolon that makes the difference, your insistence on
minimizing it or ignoring it notwithstanding.

[...]

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"