Object-Oriented Programming in C++, Fourth Edition

Chapter 8. Operator Overloading

In This Chapter

• Overloading Unary Operators 320

• Overloading Binary Operators 328

• Data Conversion 344

• UML Class Diagrams 357

• Pitfalls of Operator Overloading and Conversion 358

• Keywords explicit and mutable 360

Operator overloading is one of the most exciting features of object-oriented programming. It can transform complex, obscure program listings into intuitively obvious ones. For example, statements like

d3.addobjects(d1, d2);

or the similar but equally obscure

d3 = d1.addobjects(d2);

can be changed to the much more readable

d3 = d1 + d2;

The rather forbidding term operator overloading refers to giving the normal C++ operators, such as +, *, <=, and +=, additional meanings when they are applied ...