Programming C#

Conversion Operators

C# will convert int to long implicitly, and allow you to convert long to int explicitly. The conversion from int to long is implicit because you know that any int will fit into the memory representation of a long. The reverse operation, from long to int, must be explicit (using a cast) because it is possible to lose information in the conversion:

int myInt = 5;
long myLong;
myLong = myInt;        // implicit
myInt = (int) myLong;  // explicit

You want the same functionality for your fractions. Given an int, you can support an implicit conversion to a fraction because any whole value is equal to that value over 1 (e.g., 15==15/1).

Given a fraction, you might want to provide an explicit conversion back to an integer, understanding that some value might be lost. Thus, you might convert 9/4 to the integer value 2.

The keyword implicit is used when the conversion is guaranteed to succeed and no information will be lost; otherwise explicit is used.

Example 6-1 illustrates how you might implement implicit and explicit conversions, and some of the operators of the Fraction class. (Although I’ve used Console.WriteLine to print messages illustrating which method we’re entering, the better way to pursue this kind of trace is with the debugger. You can place a breakpoint on each of the test statements, and then step into the code, watching the invocation of the constructors as they occur.)

Example 6-1. Defining conversions and operators for the fraction class operators ...