CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++booleanoperator-overloading
larry718
larry718

Reputation: 11

C++ overload bool operator

I am new to overloading operators. I am trying to overload a bool operator. I am currently using the bool operator as an access function into the Date class. Any suggestions how I would go about converting the bool EqualTo function to overload the operator? Thank you!

class Date {
private:
    int mn;        //month component of a date
    int dy;        //day component of a date
    int yr;        //year comonent of a date

public:
    //constructors
    Date() : mn(0), dy(0), yr(0)
    {}
    Date(int m, int d, int y) : mn(m), dy(d), yr(y)
    {}

    //access functions

    int getDay() const
    {
        return dy;
    }
    int getMonth() const
    {
        return mn;
    }
    int getYear() const
    {
        return yr;
    }

    bool EqualTo(Date d) const;

};

bool Date::EqualTo(Date d) const
{
    return (mn == d.mn) && (dy == d.dy) && (yr == d.yr);
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2743

Answers (1)

cigien
cigien

Reputation: 60308

The implementation of your EqualTo function suggests that you should be overloading operator== to test if 2 Date objects are equal. All you have to do is rename EqualTo to operator==. And you should take the arguments by const&.

bool Date::operator==(Date const &d) const
{
    return (mn == d.mn) && (dy == d.dy) && (yr == d.yr);
}

Inside the class Date, the declaration would look like:

bool operator==(Date const &d) const;

Another way to do this is to make the operator a friend of the class:

friend bool operator==(Date const &a, Date const &b) const
{
    return (a.mn == b.mn) && (a.dy == b.dy) && (a.yr == b.yr);
}

Note that in this case, this is not a member function. In this case, you can define it inside the class (where you need the friend keyword).

If you define a friend function outside the class, you still need to declare it as a friend within the class. However, the definition can no longer have the friend keyword.

I would also recommend naming your variables a bit more clearly, such as month, day, and year.

Upvotes: 5

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