More C++ Concepts

• Operator overloading
• Friend Function
• This Operator
• Inline Function

1
 Operator overloading

• Programmer can use some operator

symbols to define special member
functions of a class

• Provides convenient notations for

object behaviors

2
 Why Operator Overloading

int i, j, k; // integers
float m, n, p; // floats The compiler overloads
the + operator for built-in
integer and float types by
k = i + j; default, producing integer
// integer addition and assignment addition with i+j, and
p = m + n; floating addition with m+n.
// floating addition and assignment

We can make object operation look like individual

int variable operation, using operator functions
Complex a,b,c;
c = a + b;
3
 Operator Overloading Syntax
• Syntax is: Examples:
operator+

operator@(argument-list) operator-
operator*
operator/
--- operator is a function
--- @ is one of C++ operator symbols (+, -, =, etc..)

4
 Example of Operator Overloading
class CStr
{
void CStr::cat(char *s)
char *pData;
{
int nLength; int n;
public: char *pTemp;
// … n=strlen(s);
void cat(char *s); if (n==0) return;
// …
CStr operator+(CStr str1, CStr str2); pTemp=new char[n+nLength+1];
CStr operator+(CStr str, char *s); if (pData)
CStr operator+(char *s, CStr str); strcpy(pTemp,pData);
//accessors strcat(pTemp,s);
char* get_Data(); pData=pTemp;
int get_Len(); nLength+=n;
}
};
5
 The Addition (+) Operator
CStr CStr::operator+(CStr str1, CStr str2)
{
CStr new_string(str1);
//call the copy constructor to initialize an
//entirely new CStr object with the first
//operand
new_string.cat(str2.get_Data());
//concatenate the second operand onto the
//end of new_string
return new_string;
//call copy constructor to create a copy of
//the return value new_string
}

new_string

str1
strcat(str1,str2)
strlen(str1)
strlen(str1)+strlen(str2) 6
 How does it work?
CStr first(“John”);
CStr last(“Johnson”);
CStr name(first+last);

CStr CStr::operator+(CStr str1,CStr str2)

{
CStr new_string(str1);
new_string.cat(str2.get());
return new_string;
}

name “John Johnson”

Copy constructor
Temporary CStr object

7
 Implementing Operator Overloading
• Two ways:
– Implemented as member functions
– Implemented as non-member or Friend functions
• the operator function may need to be declared as a
friend if it requires access to protected or private data

• Expression obj1@obj2 translates into a function call

– obj1.operator@(obj2), if this function is defined within
class obj1
– operator@(obj1,obj2), if this function is defined outside
the class obj1

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 Implementing Operator Overloading

1. Defined as a member function

class Complex {
...
public:
... c = a+b;
Complex operator +(const Complex &op)
{
double real = _real + op._real,
c = a.operator+
imag = _imag + op._imag; (b);
return(Complex(real, imag));
}
...
};
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 Implementing Operator Overloading

2. Defined as a non-member function

class Complex {
... c = a+b;
public:
...
double real() { return _real; } c = operator+ (a, b);
//need access functions
double imag() { return _imag; }
...
Complex operator +(Complex &op1, Complex &op2)
};
{
double real = op1.real() + op2.real(),
imag = op1.imag() + op2.imag();
return(Complex(real, imag)); 10
}
 Implementing Operator Overloading

3. Defined as a friend function

class Complex {
... c = a+b;
public:
...
friend Complex operator +( c = operator+ (a, b);
const Complex &,
const Complex &
);
Complex operator +(Complex &op1, Complex &op2)
...
{
};
double real = op1._real + op2._real,
imag = op1._imag + op2._imag;
return(Complex(real, imag)); 11
}
 Ordinary Member Functions, Static Functions
and Friend Functions
1. The function can access the private part of
the class definition
2. The function is in the scope of the class
3. The function must be invoked on an object

Which of these are true about the different functions?

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 What is ‘Friend’?
• Friend declarations introduce extra coupling
between classes
– Once an object is declared as a friend, it has
access to all non-public members as if they
were public
• Access is unidirectional
– If B is designated as friend of A, B can access
A’s non-public members; A cannot access B’s
• A friend function of a class is defined
outside of that class's scope
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 More about ‘Friend’
• The major use of friends is
– to provide more efficient access to data members
than the function call
– to accommodate operator functions with easy
access to private data members
• Friends can have access to everything, which
defeats data hiding, so use them carefully
• Friends have permission to change the
internal state from outside the class. Always
recommend use member functions instead of
friends to change state
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 Assignment Operator
• Assignment between objects of the same type is always
supported
– the compiler supplies a hidden assignment function if you don’t
write your own one
– same problem as with the copy constructor - the member by
member copying
– Syntax:

class& class::operator=(const class &arg)

{
//…
}
15
 Example: Assignment for CStr class
Assignment operator for CStr:
CStr& CStr::operator=(const CStr & source)
Return type - a reference to Argument type - a reference to a CStr object
(address of) a CStr object (since it is const, the function cannot modify it)

CStr& CStr::operator=(const CStr &source){

//... Do the copying
return *this;
Assignment function is called as a
}
member function of the left operand
=>Return the object itself
str1=str2;
Copy Assignment is different from
Copy Constructor
str1.operator=(str2) 16
 The “this” pointer
• Within a member function, the this keyword is a pointer to the
current object, i.e. the object through which the function was called
• C++ passes a hidden this pointer whenever a member function is
called
• Within a member function definition, there is an implicit use of this
pointer for references to data members

this Data member reference Equivalent to

pData pData this->pData
nLength this->nLength
nLength

CStr object
(*this) 17
 Overloading stream-insertion and
stream-extraction operators
• In fact, cout<< or cin>> are operator overloading built in C++
standard lib of iostream.h, using operator "<<" and ">>"
• cout and cin are the objects of ostream and istream classes,
respectively
• We can add a friend function which overloads the operator <<
friend ostream& operator<< (ostream &os, const Date &d);

ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, const Date &d)

{
os<<d.month<<“/”<<d.day<<“/”<<d.year;
return os;
cout ---- object of ostream
}
…
cout<< d1; //overloaded operator
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 Overloading stream-insertion and
stream-extraction operators
• We can also add a friend function which overloads the
operator >>
friend istream& operator>> (istream &in, Date &d);

istream& operator>> (istream &in, Date &d)

{
char mmddyy[9];
in >> mmddyy; cin ---- object of istream
// check if valid data entered
if (d.set(mmddyy)) return in;
cout<< "Invalid date format: "<<d<<endl;
exit(-1);
}
cin >> d1;
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 Inline functions
• An inline function is one in which the function
code replaces the function call directly.
• Inline class member functions
– if they are defined as part of the class definition,
implicit
– if they are defined outside of the class definition,
explicit, I.e.using the keyword, inline.
• Inline functions should be short (preferable
one-liners).
– Why? Because the use of inline function results in
duplication of the code of the function for each
invocation of the inline function  
20
 Example of Inline functions
class CStr
{
char *pData;
int nLength;
…
public: Inline functions within class declarations
…
char *get_Data(void) {return pData; }//implicit inline function
int getlength(void);
…
};
inline void CStr::getlength(void) //explicit inline function
{
return nLength;
} Inline functions outside of class declarations
…
 
int main(void)
{
char *s;
int n;
CStr a(“Joe”);
s = a.get_Data();
In both cases, the compiler will insert the
n = b.getlength(); code of the functions get_Data() and
}
getlength() instead of generating calls to these
functions 21
 Inline functions (II)
• An inline function can never be located in
a run-time library since the actual code is
inserted by the compiler and must
therefore be known at compile-time.
• It is only useful to implement an inline
function when the time which is spent
during a function call is long compared to
the code in the function.

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 Take Home Message
• Operator overloading provides convenient
notations for object behaviors

• There are three ways to implement operator

overloading
– member functions
– normal non-member functions
– friend functions
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