7 - Operator overloading

Question 1

constantness of a const member function

Answer 1

A const member function is a member function that guarantees it will not modify the object or call any non-const member functions (as they may modify the object).

Question 2

Overriding an operator does not change

Answer 2

• Operator precendence
• associativity
• the meaning of how operator works on objects

Question 3

Operator overloading

Answer 3

• must have at least one operand that is user-defined: prevents overloading operators for standard types
• must adhere to the syntax of the original operator: % cannot be redefined to use a single operand
• cannot be used to create new operator symbols

Question 4

When operator function is implemented as a member function

Answer 4

• leftmost operand: class object or reference to it

Question 5

When operator function is implemented as a non-member function

Answer 5

• leftmost operand: any type

Question 6

How to overload ++ and – operators

Answer 6

• both post and pre increment/decrement should be overloaded

- often overloaded to support iterators and smart pointers