Would the output of the program be any different if the expression --count were changed to count--   ?

A good answer might be:

No. In more complicated expressions it might make a difference, but not here.

Parts of a for can be omitted. Since the three parts of a for are the three parts of any loop, when a part is eliminated from a for it has to be made up elsewhere. Recall that the for is equivalent to a while:

for ( initialize ; test ; change )
  loopBody ;

initialize
while ( test )
{
  loopBody
  change
}

If you eliminate the initialize from the for it is as if you eliminated it from the equivalent while. This is useful when initialization is complicated and you wish to do it in several statements before the loop. For example:

    // get initial value of count from the user here

    for (    ; count < 13; count++  )  
    {
      System.out.println( "count is: " + count ); 
    }
    System.out.println( "\nDone with the loop.\nCount is now" + count);

QUESTION 11:

Do you think that the change part of a for can be omitted (as long as it is done somewhere else)?