Final answer:
The value of z after the code executes is 4. The pre-decrement operation on y reduces its value by 1 before assigning it to z.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question asks about the value of z after executing a short sequence of code. The provided code is:
x = 5;
y = x;
z = --y;
To determine the value of z, we need to understand what each line of code does:
- x = 5; assigns the value 5 to the variable x.
- y = x; assigns the value of x (which is 5) to the variable y.
- z = --y; is a pre-decrement operation on y. This means that y is decremented by 1 before its value is assigned to z. After this line, both y and z will hold the value 4.
Therefore, after this code executes, the value of z will be 4.