Operator Overload

Operator Overload (C++ only)

In C++, operator overloading allows you to redefine or "overload" most of the built-in operators to work with user-defined data types (like classes and structs).
To overload an operator, you define a function with a special name that includes the keyword operator followed by the symbol for the operator you want to overload. This function can be a member function of a class or a non-member function.

Operators that can be overloaded

Almost all C++ operators can be overloaded, with a few exceptions. The operators that can be overloaded include:

• Arithmetic operators: +, -, *, /, %
• Relational operators: ==, !=, <, >, <=, >=
• Logical operators: &&, ||, !
• Bitwise operators: &, |, ^, ~, <<, >>
• Assignment operators: =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, &=, |=, ^=, <<=, >>=
• Unary operators: ++, --, -, +, *, &
• Subscript operator: []
• Function call operator: ()
• Member access operators: ->, .*, ->*
• Comma operator: ,
• Dereference operator: *
• Address-of operator: &
• New and delete operators: new, delete, new[], delete[]
• Type cast operators: typeid, dynamic_cast, const_cast, reinterpret_cast, static_cast

Operators that can not overloaded

There are a few operators in C++ that you cannot overload:

• Scope resolution operator: ::
• Member access operator: .
• Member pointer access operator: .*
• Conditional (ternary) operator: ?:
• Sizeof operator: sizeof
• Typeid operator: typeid
• Alignof operator: alignof
• Noexcept operator: noexcept

#include 

// Define a struct to represent a point in 2D space
struct Point {
    int x, y;
};

// Overload the + operator for the Point struct
Point operator + (const Point& p1, const Point& p2) {
    Point result;
    result.x = p1.x + p2.x;
    result.y = p1.y + p2.y;
    return result;
}

// Function to display the coordinates of a point
void display(const Point& p) {
    std::cout << "(" << p.x << ", " << p.y << ")" << std::endl;
}

int main() {
    Point p1 = {3, 4};  // Initialize point p1
    Point p2 = {1, 2};  // Initialize point p2

    Point p3 = p1 + p2;  // Use the overloaded + operator

    std::cout << "p1 + p2 = ";
    display(p3);  // Output: (4, 6)

    return 0;
}

Guidelines for Operator Overloading

1. Maintain Intuition: The overloaded operator should behave in a way that is intuitive and natural to users of your class. Overloading + for a class should likely result in a meaningful addition, just as it does for built-in types.
2. Consistency: If you overload one operator, consider if it makes sense to overload related operators as well (e.g., if you overload ==, consider also overloading !=).
3. Return Values: For operators like =, +=, or -=, return *this to allow chaining of operations.
4. Avoid Overloading Operators that Might Confuse Users: Some operators, like the comma operator ,, might not always be suitable for overloading due to their subtle behavior.