CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
Mr. A
Mr. A

Reputation: 1

Operator overloading confustion C++

std::ostream &operator <<(std::ostream &o, date &d)
{
    return o << d.year << d.month << d.day;
}


std::ostream &operator <<(std::ostream &o, date &d)
{
    o << d.year << d.month << d.day;
    return o;
}

Which of these is correct syntax or are they both correct and interchangable? Also,in which all cases we need curly braces,any rule for that,its too confusing.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 56

Answers (1)

Caduchon
Caduchon

Reputation: 5201

Some comments.

First of all, I encourage you to keep std:: before the objects of the standart library. This avoids a lot of name conflicts problems.

For me, the second version is better, due to the fact that operator << can be overloaded by other users, and sometimes, it's not well written, and the return is missing. Then, the first syntax will fail.

Moreover, in general, dump an object in a stream doesn't modify it. Then, pass the object const.

Then, in my opinion, the best is the following :

std::ostream& operator << (std::ostream& out, const Date& date)
{
  out << date.year << "-" << date.month << "-" << date.day;
  return out;
}

Upvotes: 1

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