Module 09

Intructors:
Abir Das and
Sourangshu
Module 09: Programming in C++
Bhattacharya
Operator Overloading
Objectives &
Outline

Operators &
Functions
Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya
Operator
Overloading

Examples
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
String
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Enum
{abir, sourangshu}@cse.iitkgp.ac.in
Operator
Overloading
Rules
Slides taken from NPTEL course on Programming in C++
Summary
by Prof. Partha Pratim Das

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 1
 Module Objectives

Module 09

Intructors:
Understand the Operator Overloading
Abir Das and
Sourangshu
Bhattacharya

Objectives &
Outline

Operators &
Functions

Operator
Overloading

Examples
String
Enum

Operator
Overloading
Rules

Summary

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 2
 Module Outline

Module 09

Intructors:
Basic Differences between Operators & Functions
Abir Das and
Sourangshu Operator Overloading
Bhattacharya
Examples of Operator Overloading
Objectives &
Outline
operator+ for String & Enum
Operators & Operator Overloading Rules
Functions

Operator
Overloading

Examples
String
Enum

Operator
Overloading
Rules

Summary

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 3
 Operator & Function

Module 09 What is the difference between an operator & a function?

Intructors: unsigned int Multiply(unsigned x, unsigned y) {
Abir Das and
Sourangshu int prod = 0;
Bhattacharya while (y-- > 0) prod += x;
return prod;
Objectives & }
Outline

Operators & int main() {

Functions unsigned int a = 2, b = 3;
Operator
Overloading // Computed by ’*’ operator
Examples unsigned int c = a * b; // c is 6
String
Enum // Computed by Multiply function
Operator unsigned int d = Multiply(a, b); // d is 6
Overloading
Rules
return 0;
Summary }

Same computation by an operator and a function

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 4
 Difference between Operator & Functions

Module 09
Operator Function
Intructors:
Abir Das and
Sourangshu • Usually written in infix nota- • Always written in prefix no-
Bhattacharya
tion tation
Objectives & • Examples: • Examples:
Outline Infix: a + b; a ? b : c; Prefix: max(a, b);
Operators &
Prefix: ++a; qsort(int[], int, int,
Functions Postfix: a++; void (*)(void*, void*));
Operator
• Operates on one or more • Operates on zero or more ar-
Overloading operands, typically up to 3 guments
Examples (Unary, Binary or Ternary)
String
Enum
• Produces one result • Produces up to one result
Operator • Order of operations is de- • Order of application is de-
Overloading
Rules
cided by precedence and asso- cided by depth of nesting
ciativity
Summary
• Operators are pre-defined • Functions can be defined as
needed

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 5
 Operator Functions in C++

Module 09 Introduces a new keyword: operator

Intructors: Every operator is associated with an operator function that
Abir Das and
Sourangshu defines its behavior
Bhattacharya Operator Expression Operator Function
a + b operator+(a, b)
Objectives &
Outline
a = b operator=(a, b)
c = a + b operator=(c, operator+(a, b))
Operators &
Functions
Operator functions are implicit for predefined operators of
Operator
Overloading
built-in types and cannot be redefined
Examples An operator function may have a signature as:
String
Enum
MyType a, b; // An enum or struct
Operator
Overloading MyType operator+(MyType, MyType); // Operator function
Rules

Summary a + b // Calls operator+(a, b)

C++ allows users to define an operator function and overload it

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 6
 Program 09.01: String Concatenation

Module 09 Concatenation by string functions Concatenation operator

Intructors: #include <iostream> #include <iostream>

Abir Das and #include <cstring> #include <cstring>
Sourangshu using namespace std; using namespace std;
Bhattacharya typedef struct _String { char *str; typedef struct _String { char *str; } String;
} String; String operator+(const String& s1, const String& s2)
int main(){ String s;
Objectives & String fName, lName, name; s.str = (char *) malloc(strlen(s1.str) +
Outline fName.str = strdup("Partha "); strlen(s2.str) + 1);
lName.str = strdup("Das" ); strcpy(s.str, s1.str);
Operators & name.str = (char *) malloc( strcat(s.str, s2.str);
Functions strlen(fName.str) + return s;
strlen(lName.str) + 1); }
Operator
strcpy(name.str, fName.str); int main() {
Overloading
strcat(name.str, lName.str); String fName, lName, name;
Examples fName.str = strdup("Partha ");
cout << "First Name: " << lName.str = strdup("Das");
String
fName.str << endl;
Enum
cout << "Last Name: " << name = fName + lName; // Overload operator +
Operator lName.str << endl;
Overloading cout << "Full Name: " << cout << "First Name: " << fName.str << endl;
Rules name.str << endl; cout << "Last Name: " << lName.str << endl;
return 0; cout << "Full Name: " << name.str << endl;
Summary } return 0;
---------- }
First Name: Partha ----------
Last Name: Das First Name: Partha
Full Name: Partha Das Last Name: Das
Full Name: Partha Das
NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 7
 Program 09.02: A new semantics for operator+
w/o Overloading + Overloading operator +
Module 09
#include <iostream> #include <iostream>
Intructors: using namespace std; using namespace std;
Abir Das and enum E {C0 = 0, C1 = 1, C2 = 2}; enum E {C0 = 0, C1 = 1, C2 = 2};
Sourangshu
Bhattacharya E operator+(const E& a, const E& b) {
unsigned int uia = a, uib = b;
unsigned int t = (uia + uib) % 3;
Objectives & return (E) t;
Outline }
int main() { int main() {
Operators &
E a = C1, b = C2; E a = C1, b = C2;
Functions
int x = -1; int x = -1;
Operator
Overloading x = a + b; x = a + b;
cout << x << endl; cout << x << endl;
Examples
String return 0; return 0;
Enum
} }
---------- ----------
Operator 3 0
Overloading
Rules • Implicitly converts enum E values to int
• Adds by operator+ of int • operator + is overloaded for enum E
Summary • Result is outside enum E range • Result is a valid enum E value

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 8
 Operator Overloading – Summary of Rules

Module 09
No new operator such as **, <>, or &| can be defined for overloading
Intructors:
Abir Das and Intrinsic properties of the overloaded operator cannot be change
Sourangshu
Bhattacharya Preserves arity
Preserves precedence
Objectives & Preserves associativity
Outline
These operators can be overloaded:
Operators &
Functions [] + - * / % ^ & | ~ ! = += -= *= /= %= ^= &= |=
<< >> >>= <<= == != < > <= >= && || ++ -- , ->* -> ( ) [ ]
Operator
Overloading For unary prefix operators, use: MyType& operator++(MyType& s1)
Examples For unary postfix operators, use: MyType operator++(MyType& s1, int)
String
Enum The operators :: (scope resolution), . (member access), .* (member access
through pointer to member), sizeof, and ?: (ternary conditional) cannot
Operator
Overloading be overloaded
Rules
The overloads of operators &&, ||, and , (comma) lose their special
Summary properties: short-circuit evaluation and sequencing
The overload of operator-> must either return a raw pointer or return an
object (by reference or by value), for which operator-> is in turn overloaded

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 9
 Overloading disallowed for

Module 09 Operator Reason

Intructors:
Abir Das and • dot (.) • The second argument is a name (of the field or
Sourangshu member function), rather than a value
Bhattacharya

• Scope Resolution ( :: ) • It performs a (compile time) scope resolution rather

Objectives &
Outline than an expression evaluation.
Operators &
Functions • Ternary (? :) • overloading expr1 ? expr2 : expr3 would not be
able to guarantee that only one of expr2 and expr3
Operator
Overloading was executed
Examples
String
• sizeof • Sizeof cannot be overloaded because built-in oper-
Enum ations, such as incrementing a pointer into an array
implicitly depends on it
Operator
Overloading
Rules

Summary

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 10
 Do not overload these operators

Module 09 Operator Reason

Intructors:
Abir Das and • && and | | • In evaluation, the second operand is not evaluated
Sourangshu if the result can be deduced solely by evaluating the
Bhattacharya
first operand. However, this evaluation is not possi-
ble for overloaded versions of these operators
Objectives &
Outline
• Comma ( , ) • This operator guarantees that the first operand is
Operators &
Functions evaluated before the second operand. However, if
the comma operator is overloaded, its operand eval-
Operator
Overloading uation depends on C++’s function parameter mech-
anism, which does not guarantee the order of evalu-
Examples
ation
String
Enum
• Ampersand (&) • The address of an object of incomplete type can
Operator
Overloading be taken, but if the complete type of that object is
Rules a class type that declares operator &() as a member
Summary function, then the behavior is undefined

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 11
 Module Summary

Module 09

Intructors:
Introduced operator overloading
Abir Das and
Sourangshu Explained the rules of operator overloading
Bhattacharya

Objectives &
Outline

Operators &
Functions

Operator
Overloading

Examples
String
Enum

Operator
Overloading
Rules

Summary

NPTEL MOOCs Programming in C++ Intructors: Abir Das and Sourangshu Bhattacharya 12