Object oriented Programming

Lecture 8: Operator overloading

Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 1

Recap..
• Revising Copy constructor (const and by reference arguments)
• Passing objects by value and by reference
• Operator overloading: Unary operators
• Nameless temporary objects and parametrized constructor
• Prefix and postfix operator overloading

Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 2

Overloading Binary Operators
dist3.add_dist(dist1, dist2);
• By overloading the + operator we can reduce this dense-looking expression to
dist3 = dist1 + dist2;
OR
dist3 = dist1.operator+(dist2);

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 Without operator overloading

Ratio() { num = 1; den = 1; }

Ratio(int n,int d) { num = n; den = d; } Main():
Ratio addRatio(Ratio r1, Ratio r2)
{ Ratio r1,r2;
cout << "+ operator function called" << endl; Ratio r3 = r1.addRatio(r2);
return Ratio(num+r2.num,den+r2.den); r3.Display();
} return 0;

void Display()
{
cout << "numerator: " << num<<endl;
cout << "denominator: " << den<<endl;
}

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 With operator overloading

Ratio() { num = 1; den = 1; }

Ratio(int n,int d) { num = n; den = d; } Main():
Ratio operator +(Ratio r2)
{ Ratio r1,r2;
cout << "+ operator function called" << endl; Ratio r3 = r1+r2;
return Ratio(num+r2.num,den+r2.den); r3.Display();
} return 0;

void Display()
{
cout << "numerator: " << num<<endl;
cout << "denominator: " << den<<endl;
}

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 Void return type
void operator +(Ratio r2)
{
cout <<" Operator + called " << endl;
cout <<num << " and "<<r2.num<<" getting added
"<<endl;
//return Ratio(num+r2.num,den+r2.den);
}

int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
r1 + r2;
r2.Display();
return 0;
}

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 Non-void return type and effect of
pass by value
int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
Ratio operator -(Ratio r2)
r2.Display();
{
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
return Ratio(num - r2.num, den - (r2.den++));
r3.Display();
}
r3 = r1 - r2;

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
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 Non-void return type and effect of
pass by reference
int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
Ratio operator -(Ratio &r2)
r2.Display();
{
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
return Ratio(num - r2.num, den - (r2.den++));
r3.Display();
}
r3 = r1 - r2;

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
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 Multiple calls in a single line
Ratio operator +(Ratio r2)
{

cout <<num << " and "<<r2.num<<" getting added "<<endl;

return Ratio(num+r2.num,den+r2.den);
}

int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
Ratio r4 = r1+r2+r3;
r4.Display();
return 0;
}

Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 9

 Use of Operator + and operator – in one call
Ratio operator +(Ratio r2) Ratio operator -(Ratio r2)
{ {
cout <<" Operator + called " << endl; cout << " Operator - called " << endl;
cout <<num << " and "<<r2.num<<" getting cout << num << " and " << r2.num << " getting
added "<<endl; subtracted " << endl;
return Ratio(num+r2.num,den+r2.den); return Ratio(num - r2.num, den - r2.den);
} }

int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
Ratio r4 = r1+r2-r3;
r4.Display();
return 0;
}

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Assignment operator = (void) void operator =(Ratio r)
{
cout << "Operator = function called" << endl;
cout << "for object with numerator: " << r.num <<
int main() endl;
{ num = r.num;
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2); den = r.den;
cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl; }
cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

r1 = r2;

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}

Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 11

Assignment operator = (with return type)
int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
cout << "Values of objects before call" <<
endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl; Ratio operator =(Ratio r)
r1.Display(); {
cout << "Object 2" << endl; num = r.num;
r2.Display();
den = r.den;
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display(); return *this;
}
r1 = r2 = r3;

cout << "Values of objects before call" <<

endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 12
Assignment operator = (with return type) Pass/return by reference
int main()
{
Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
cout << "Values of objects before call" <<
endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl; Ratio& operator =(Ratio &r)
r1.Display(); {
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
num = r.num;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl; den = r.den;
r3.Display(); return *this;
}
r1 = r2 = r3;

cout << "Values of objects before call" <<

endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 13
 Arithmetic Assignment Operators dist1 += dist2; //dist1 = dist1 + dist2
int main()
{
void operator +=(Ratio r) Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
{ cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;
num += r.num; cout << "Object 1" << endl;
den += r.den; r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
}
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

r1 += r2;

cout << "Values of objects before call" << endl;

cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 14
 int main()
{
Comparison Operators Ratio r1(1,1),r2(5,6),r3(2,2);
cout << "Values of objects before call" <<
endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl;
bool operator >(Ratio r) r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
{ r2.Display();
if (num > r.num) cout << "Object 3" << endl;
return true; r3.Display();
else
if (r1 > r2)
return false; cout << "R1 is greater" << endl;
} else
cout << "R2 is greater" << endl;

cout << "Values of objects before call" <<

endl;
cout << "Object 1" << endl;
r1.Display();
cout << "Object 2" << endl;
r2.Display();
cout << "Object 3" << endl;
r3.Display();

return 0;
}
Object oriented programming in C++ by Robert Lafore 15
 Overloading Subscript or array index operator []
• Overloading of [] may be useful when we want to check for index out of bound
class Array
Array(int* p = NULL, int s = 0) int main()
{
{ {
private:
size = s; int a[] = { 1, 2, 4, 5 };
int* ptr;
ptr = NULL; Array arr1(a, 4);
int size;
if (s != 0) arr1[2] = 6;
public:
{ arr1.print();
int& operator[](int index)
ptr = new int[s]; arr1[8] = 6;
{
for (int i = 0; i < s; i++) return 0;
if (index >= size)
ptr[i] = p[i]; }
{
}
cout << "Array index out of bound,
}
exiting";
void print() const
exit(0);
{
}
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
return ptr[index];
cout << ptr[i] << " ";
}
cout << endl;
}
};
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Following is the list of operators which can be overloaded

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Following is the list of operators, which can not be overloaded

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>>, <<: Overloading the Binary Stream Insertion and
Stream Extraction Operators
• Note: cout is an object of ostream class and cin is an object istream class
• We will revisit this by the next couple of lectures.

19
()
• The function call operator () can be overloaded for objects of class type.
• When you overload ( ), you are not creating a new way to call a function.
• Rather, you are creating an operator function that can be passed an arbitrary
number of parameters.

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 int main()
Ratio operator()(int a, int b, int c) {
{
cout << "() operator called" << endl;
Ratio r(0,0),r2(0,0);
num = a+b+c;
r2=r(1, 2, 3);
den = a+b+c;
r.Display();
return *this;
r2.Display();
}
return 0;
}

Ratio operator =(Ratio r)

{
cout << "operator = called" << endl;
num = r.num;
den = r.den;
return *this;
}

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 That’s it

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