Operator Overloading C++

Question

Can someone explain a real world example where I would need to overload an operator? Can you please also explain to me what exactly overloading sn operator is?

Answer 1

To overload an operator, you need a class that has data that makes sense to have an overloaded operator. A good example would be implementing a bigger integer than 'long long'. You could implement it as a string with values 0 to 9 in the characters using a -1 as the sign bit. Ignoring the class structure and methods for the moment lets you do this:

class mylong {} result, first, second;

result = first + second;

In mylong, you would declare the operator+ method, which would loop through the strings adding digits.

Answer 2

Sandin Jayasekera you're welcome. If I had a decent example, I'd show you. But, mine are in Python and Kotlin only.

Answer 3

Sandin Jayasekera I converted my Kotlin example to C++. It isn't a good class example as there is no reason for it to exist except to play with operators. However, it demonstrates all integer math operations.

https://code.sololearn.com/cStdw0OPtPxG

Answer 4

John Wells I'm going to have to do some more research on this topic, I still have trouble understanding what exactly overloading an operator means... thanks for the help though.

Answer 5

Operator overload:
Let’s say you have a class with X and Y coordinates.
With an object of this class, I’d like to plot the next point in a line that runs 45 degrees from the X axis. This means I need to increase both my X value and my Y value by 1. I could write a function, or if I plan to do it multiple places, I could override the increment operator.

This is pseudo code because I haven’t been in c++ for 20 years and I am no longer familiar with the syntax
Declare a new instance of the class Point called myPoint;
myPoint.X=1;
myPoint.Y=1;
myPoint.print ;//(class method to display the plotted point on a graph on the screen)
//Prints a Point 2 step diagonally up to the right from the cross-hairs

myPoint++; //overloaded operator execute the equivalent of myPoint.X= myPoint.X+1; myPoint.Y= myPoint.Y +1;

myPoint.Print;
//Prints a Point 2 step diagonally up to the right from the cross-hairs

Now let’s declare a new instance of Point called ‘target’
target.X=2;
target.Y=2;
If (myPoint == target ) then
cout << “It’s a hit”
//this won’t function as you would like, unless you overload the ‘==‘ operator to check if each X value of the two objects are equal and if the two Y values of the object are equal.

Let me know if I can provide any more clarification.

Answer 6

Aidos Zhakupov I can't really understand that, could you please explain it in idiot terms? I'm pretty new to this.

Answer 7

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4421706/what-are-the-basic-rules-and-idioms-for-operator-overloading