In recent years it's very possible they either don't use a language where that syntax is ever required (python) or just use one of the foreach variants in pretty much every language.
I can only think of Python, but are people learning that alone these days? In every other popular language, I can't imagine not ever encountering a situation where you also need to know the index of the iteration.
They could just write loops and remember that repeating the variable name with ++ is part of loop syntax without knowing what it means. Almost like text-generating AI would do it (ducks).
It also matter that they apparently wrote a for loop a number of times without wondering what each of those symbols actually does and just treated it as magic incantation.
Edit: assuming they didn't use a language where such idiom doesn't exist or is not common, as another commented pointed out.
I made it as far as my first internship before I learned what `!val` meant. Don't ding people (especially interns or juniors) for not knowing specifics or notation, or things that can be answered in a single google. What matters is what they do when they learn what `i++` is - does it ever come up again, and do they understand it.
> Though I agree it is jarring how little many in Gen Z know about how anything works.
I've worked with GenX'ers and Millenials (I'm a millenial), and this isn't unique to GenZ at all. A large number of people don't understand, and are just getting by. Anecdotally, I've seen people at very senior engineering positions who just don't understand the basics of what they're doing. Does that mean that it's jarring how many GenX'ers don't understand?
Yeah, we see this a lot with younger people because they are just starting in the world. Also, they're the predominate generation right now that's video taping and posting every even possibly interesting moment of their lives, irrespective of whether some 30 year old thinks it's embarrassing. If 60 year olds were posting every strange thought or funny moment we'd have some opinions about them too (Facebook, anyone?) They're just thinking about and misunderstanding a different set of things. But i think the kids are somewhat closer to a humility that might be hard to find elsewhere.
> If 60 year olds were posting every strange thought or funny moment we'd have some opinions about them too (Facebook, anyone?)
My older relatives pore out the most excruciating details of their personal lives on people's Facebook profiles, not understanding that it's not a private message. These people grew up and we're the ones who warned us "never use your real name online", etc.