What is operator overloading? Why it is necessary to overload an operator? Write a program for overloading comparision operator.

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Suresh Chand · Accepted Answer

The method of making operators to work for user defined classes and having the ability to provide operators with a special user defined meaning is known as operator overloading. In the other words, Operator overloading is a type of polymorphism in which an operator is overloaded to give user defined meaning to it. For Example: '+' operator can be overloaded to perform on various data type like addition for integer, concatenation for string etc. Need of Operator Overloading in c++: It makes the program more readable and easier to understand by allowing manipulation of objects of class’s type to behave in the same manner as that of variables of built-in types. For example: if we want to add two complex numbers, then we need to define member function add() and call it using the following notation. c3.add (c1, c2) ; or c3 = c1.add(c2) ; The above statements are obscure as the programmer needs to remember the function’s name and how to call it. The problem worsens even more when the program becomes large and complex. A better alternative for performing the addition of two complex numbers is to overload the ‘+’ operator. So the above statements can be written in an easily readable form as c3 = c1+c2; This notation is often clearer and more familiar to programmers. • Operator overloading is useful in large and complex programs involving multiple objects of different classes. It provides a common interface corresponding to an operator that performs similar operations on various objects. For example: In a program, the + operator can add two-time class objects, two date class objects etc. time1 = time2 + time3; date1 = date2 + date3; Operator overloading enhances the capability of C++ language by extending the functionality of most of the existing operators as per your requirement and thus contribute to C++’s extensibility. • Debugging becomes easier as the code becomes more understandable and clearer. • Operator overloading helps to gain greater control over objects’ behaviour in your program (i.e. controlling the lifetime of objects). For example, – You can overload memory allocation and deallocation functions for your classes to specify exactly how memory should be distributed and reclaimed for each new object. Program Part: #include using namespace std; class Price{ public: float price; void readData(){ cin >> price; } bool operator ==(Price &p){ return price == p.price; } }; int main(){ Price p1, p2; cout << 'Enter First Price: '; p1.readData(); cout << 'Enter Second Price: '; p1.readData(); if( p1 == p2 ){ cout << 'nPrice are Equal'; }else{ cout << 'nPrice are not Equal'; } return 0; } The output of above program is Enter First Price: 100 Enter Second Price: 100 Price are Equal Enter First Price: 100 Enter Second Price: 200 Price are not Equal

What is operator overloading? Why it is necessary to overload an operator? Write a program for overloading comparision operator.

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What is operator overloading? Why it is necessary to overload an operator? Write a program for overloading comparision operator.

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