A sequence point defines any point in a computer program's execution at which it is guaranteed that all side effects of previous evaluations will have been performed, and no side effects from subsequent evaluations have yet been performed. They are often mentioned in reference to C and C++, because the result of some expressions can depend on the order of evaluation of their subexpressions. Adding one or more sequence points is one method of ensuring a consistent result, because this restricts the possible orders of evaluation.
With C++11, the most recent iteration of the C++ programming language, usage of the term sequence point has been replaced by specifying that either one evaluation is sequenced before another, or that two evaluations are unsequenced. The execution of unsequenced evaluations can overlap.
Read more about Sequence Point: Examples of Ambiguity, Sequence Points in C and C++
Famous quotes containing the words sequence and/or point:
“It isn’t that you subordinate your ideas to the force of the facts in autobiography but that you construct a sequence of stories to bind up the facts with a persuasive hypothesis that unravels your history’s meaning.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“If you give me a short shot I will attack you. I’m not a baseliner who rallies. I try to get the point over with.”
—Venus Williams (b. 1980)