Overloading of operators

Question

class MyClass {
public:
int var;
MyClass() {}
MyClass(int a)
: var(a) { }

MyClass operator+(MyClass &obj) {
MyClass res;
res.var= this->var+obj.var;
return res;
}
};

The question is the following. If I understand correctly, we created the example of MyClass called 'res' and it is a local parameter. Meaning, it is supposed to be deleted right after we are back from the body of the function to the main function. So, isn't there a mistake: we try to return the data that is to be deleted.

Answer 1

That would only be the case if you returned a reference or a pointer to that local object, because in that case, the reference/pointer would become empty because of the deletion of the local object, you are correct there.
However, in our case, you return not the original object, but rather a copy of it, which is a new object and therefore not affected by the deletion of the original, local res.