Viv,

It's debatable. But do confess you're cheating a bit

And it doesn't know you're cheating. It stores the decremented value and does not refetch it

I suspect it's by design and for performance reasons [ a dup will be faster than a load ]

function_zero :   1.4 sec
function_one:     4.66 sec
function_two:      6.30 sec

If we subtract the time for the loop
function_one: 3.26 sec
function_two: 4.90  sec

3.26/4.9 = .66

And since the ScaleFactor has a getter, it's a call rather than a load

static void Main(string[] args)
		{
			Time.Execute(function_zero, false);
			Time.Execute(function_one, false);
			Time.Execute(function_two, true);
			
		}
		static void function_zero()
		{
			int i, j;
			for (i = int.MaxValue / 4; --i != 0; )
			{
				//j = --ScaleFactor;
			}
		}
		static void function_one()
		{
			int i, j;
			for (i = int.MaxValue/4; --i != 0; )
			{
				j = --ScaleFactor;
			}
		}
		static void function_two()
		{
			int i, j;
			for (i = int.MaxValue / 4; --i != 0; )
			{
				--ScaleFactor;
				j = ScaleFactor;
			}
		}