Home » Tip Bank » C++ » Overloading

Language: C++
Expertise: Beginner

Sep 28, 2004

For beginning C++ programmers, operator overloading may seem like a complicated task, but in fact, it's really simple. You can overload operators in two ways:

• On non-member functions.
• On member functions.

When overloading operators on non-member functions, the expression looks like @ is the operator and a and b are two separate objects that are pass into operator @(a,b).

This example isn't necessarily useful, but it helps to explain overloading operators on non-member functions.

int operator+(int a, int b)
{
   return (a + b);
}

When overloading operators on member functions, the expression looks like a is some other object. The function should look like this: operator @(a). Simple right? Here's what it looks like:

void class::operator++()
{
   m_myData++;
}