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CS253 Operator Functions

The List

These operators can be overloaded:
- unary: + - *
- binary: + - * / % ˆ & | << >>
- += -= *= /= %= ˆ= &= |= <<= >>=
- ~ !
- =
- == != < > <= >=
- && ||
- ++ --
- , ->* -> () []
- new new[] delete delete[]
- ""suffix

Yes, = is an operator, just like + is. Sure, = usually alters its left operand, whereas + doesn’t, but C++ doesn’t care about that.

What can’t you do?

You cannot:

create new operators (sorry, no **, >>>, or ≠)
- can’t change the lexical analyzer or parser
redefine existing bindings (can’t make "zulu"+3 do concatenation)
- because C++ is extensible, not mutable
change precedence or grouping of existing operators
- because C++ is extensible, not mutable.

Arguments

An operator can be a method or a plain function.

A unary operator (such as !) has one operand:

If it’s a free function, it has one argument, the only operand.
If it’s a method, the operand is the current object, and the method has no arguments.

A binary operator (such as /) has two operands:

If a free function, it has two arguments, the left & right operands, in that order.
If a method, the left operand is the current object, and the right operand is the only argument to the method.

Method or not?

Rule of thumb: Make an operator a method, unless you can’t.

It can’t be a method if the left operand is a built-in type, because built-in types don’t have methods.
It can’t be a method if the left operand is not your class, because that class is already written. You can’t add to it.
In another ten slides or so, my opinion will change.

Arguments

Foo f;
result = *f;

There are two ways to implement the unary * operator:

free function, one argument:: returntype operator*(const Foo &);
Foo method, no arguments:: returntype Foo::operator*() const;

const is typical, but not always—it depends on the semantics of the particular operation you’re implementing.

The method has no argument because it has an implicit argument, namely, the current object, the operand.

Arguments

Foo f;
Bar b;
result = f + b;

There are two ways to implement the binary + operator:

free function, two arguments:: returntype operator+(const Foo &, const Bar &);
Foo method, one argument:: returntype Foo::operator+(const Bar &) const;

The method is const, since + doesn’t alter its left operand, unless you have wacky semantics.

The method has one fewer argument because it has an implicit argument, namely, the current object, as the left-hand operand.

Clever

Yeah, I was being clever, there.
Both * and + can be either unary or binary operators.

int a, *p = &a;  // a declaration, not an expression
*p = 3*4;        // unary *, binary *
cout << +a + 5;  // unary +, binary +

The compiler works it out based on the number of arguments, implicit + explicit.

Spell it out

The compiler doesn’t deduce methods from other mathematically-equivalent methods. That’s your job.

You have to define every operator that you need:

class Fraction {
  public:
    Fraction operator+(double) { return *this; }
};
int main() {
    Fraction a, b;
    a = b + 2.3;  // ok
    a = 4.5 + b;  // bad  🦡
}

c.cc:8: error: no match for ‘operator+’ in ‘4.5e+0 + b’ (operand types 
   are ‘double’ and ‘Fraction’)

Defining operator+ does not create operator+=, or operator++.
Defining preincrement doesn’t even define postincrement!

Use previous work

The Hagia Sophia

Consider these addition methods:

Fraction operator+(const Fraction &)
Fraction& operator+=(const Fraction &)
Fraction& operator++() // pre
Fraction operator++(int) // post

There’s a lot of work in adding fractions: check for division by zero, common denominator, add, and reduce to lowest terms. Don’t do that in four different places!

The smart programmer will keep it DRY by having operator+= do the real work, have operator+ and preincrement invoke +=, and have postincrement call preincrement.

More re-use

For that matter, define operator-= in terms of operator+= (if negation is cheap for your class). Then, as before, you can have operator- and predecrement call operator-=, and have postdecrement call predecrement.

Students are often tempted to have operator+ do the real work, and have operator+= call operator+. Don’t do that. It usually works better having operator+= do the real work.

Methods

When possible, implement operator overloading as methods (as part of the class). When the method is called, the left operand is *this and the right operand is the argument. This will call a.operator+=(b):

Fraction a, b;
a += b;

This will call a.operator=(b.operator-(c)):

Fraction a, b, c
a = b - c;

The Problem with Methods

class Number {
  public:
    Number(int v) : value(v) { }
    Number operator+(Number rhs) { return value+rhs.value; }
    int value;
};
ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, Number n) { return os << n.value; }

int main() {
    Number a(1), b(2), c = a+b;
    cout << a+b << '\n';
    cout << 3+c << '\n';  // 🦡
}

c.cc:12: error: no match for ‘operator+’ in ‘3 + c’ (operand types are 
   ‘int’ and ‘Number’)

operator+ tries to return an int, but it’s converted to a Number by implicitly calling the ctor that takes an int.
b = 3+c fails, because no method matches it.

Solution #1

We could write functions for each combination of arguments, but that’s not DRY:

class Number {
  public:
    Number(int v) : value(v) { }
    Number operator+(Number rhs) { return value+rhs.value; } // Number+Number
    Number operator+(int n) { return value+n; }              // Number+int
    int value;
};
Number operator+(int n, Number rhs) { return n+rhs.value; }  // int+Number
ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, Number n) { return os << n.value; }

int main() {
    Number a(1), b(2), c = a+b;
    cout << a+b << '\n';
    cout << 4+c << '\n';
}

3
7

Solution #2

Instead, just write one non-method free function that takes two Number objects, and let int arguments get implicitly converted to Number objects:

class Number {
  public:
    Number(int v) : value(v) { }
    int value;
};
Number operator+(Number lhs, Number rhs) { return lhs.value+rhs.value; }
ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, Number n) { return os << n.value; }

int main() {
    Number a(1), b(2), c = a+b;
    cout << a+b << '\n';
    cout << 4+c << '\n';
}

3
7

Generally, keep all the parts of a class inside the class, but it’s better to do this and keep it DRY.

Efficiency

“What about speed? All those constructor calls!”

When operator+ is compiled, the compiler has already seen the trivial constructor code, and will happily inline the constructor code (i.e., copy one int) right into operator+, resulting in no ctor calls.

“Don’t copy those Number objects—pass by reference!”

Copy a 32-bit int or a 64-bit address—about the same. However, calling by reference forces the Number to be in memory, so its address can be taken, which stops the compiler from keeping a Number in a register. Slow! The rule isn’t really “pass scalars by value, objects by reference”, it’s “pass small things by value, big things by reference”.

Best Practices

When should operator functions be methods?

If the class doesn’t interact with other types, then just make everything methods (remember, method = function in a class).
If class Foo interacts with another type Bar (maybe a built-in type, like int):
- Assignment-like operators (=, +=, *=, …) only have Foo on the left, so they should be methods of class Foo.
- Unary operators (!, ~, *, …) can only have Foo as an argument, so they should be methods of class Foo.
- Binary operators (+, -, *, /, …) could have Foo or Bar on the left, so they should be non-member free functions.
- If a Foo ctor exists that takes a Bar, then only write Foo functions that take Foo arguments, and let the compiler implicitly call the conversion ctor when called with a Bar.

Abuse

Java doesn’t allow operator overloading, supposedly because it’s too confusing. There is something to be said for that.

Resist the urge to redefine every 💣 ☠️†※! operator possible. Only define those operators that:

have clear mathematical analogues
or mimic existing C++ operators (e.g., +=)
or make sense by analogy (e.g., file +file could concatenate the contents of two files).

Example of abuse

A misguided programmer might define a-b, where a and b are strings, to mean “return a, without the chars that are also in b”.

string operator-(string a, const string &b) {
    for (size_t p=0; (p = a.find_first_of(b, p)) != a.npos;)
        a.erase(p, 1);
    return a;
}

int main() {
    const string name = "Bjarne Stroustrup";
    cout << name-"aeiou" << '\n';
}

Bjrn Strstrp

Maybe, maybe not. 🤔 Call it remove_chars(), instead.
Note the questionable technique of passing first argument by value so it can be modified as the return value.

Unusual operators

A few operators are binary operators, even though they look odd:

alpha[beta] is the binary operator [] with left operand alpha and right operand beta.
gamma(delta) is the binary operator () with arguments with left operand gamma and right operand delta.

We traditionally call the first one the “subscript operator”, and the second one the “function call operator”, but that’s just convention. You can have them do whatever you like. You could define () for a std::string to be like [] but get the n th char from the end.

Example of `[]` and `()`

class Pi {
    int digits[21] = {3,1,4,1,5,9,2,6,5,3,5,8,9,7,9,3,2,3,8,4,6};
  public:
    int& operator[](size_t n) { return digits[size(digits)-n]; }
    double operator()(size_t n) const { return sqrt(digits[n]); }
};

Pi p;
cout << p[3] << ' ' << p(4) << '\n';

8 2.23607

Return whatever makes sense for your operation.
operator() is const, because it doesn’t change the data.
operator[] is not const, because it returns a read-write reference to the data, allowing changes to the data.

CS253: Software Development with C++

Spring 2023

Operator Functions

CS253 Operator Functions

The List

What can’t you do?

Arguments

Method or not?

Arguments

Arguments

Clever

Spell it out

Use previous work

More re-use

Methods

The Problem with Methods

Solution #1

Solution #2

Efficiency

Best Practices

Abuse

Example of abuse

Unusual operators

Example of `[]` and `()`

CS253 Operator Functions

The List

What can’t you do?

Arguments

Method or not?

Arguments

Arguments

Clever

Spell it out

Use previous work

More re-use

Methods

The Problem with Methods

Solution #1

Solution #2

Efficiency

Best Practices

Abuse

Example of abuse

Unusual operators

Example of [] and ()

Example of `[]` and `()`