> As far as I can tell the |= operator in C++ is the same as in C, i.e. a bitwise OR operator.
This is true.
> It works for booleans due to their bit pattern, but it's not the same.
This makes less sense. A bool in c++ is just an integer value with few inputs. It is, as far as I can tell, the exact same.
> Java's |= is different for ints and boolean.
Java has bool and int as different types. There were versions of C++ compilers that just straight out had bool as a typedef of int.
The words "boolean assignment operator" are in the first sentence after the code snippet in megous' post.
> C++ has boolean assignment operators that operate the way that the code is clearly meant to operate. That code does not have have a valid one. Where do you think Java got them from?
As far as I can tell the |= operator in C++ is the same as in C, i.e. a bitwise OR operator. It works for booleans due to their bit pattern, but it's not the same. My C++ knowledge is extremely limited, so I looked it up and I may be misinformed though.
Java's |= is different for ints and boolean. There are no bitwise operators for booleans: bool1 | bool2 is a strict logical operation (that doesn't short-circuit). bool1 |= bool2 is a logical operation that will fail when other types are mixed in. int1 |= int2 is a bitwise operation. Java does not have a short-circuiting ||= operation (but ES does).
For the most part these differences aren't that important, but they do trip people up when switching between languages.