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Friend Functions and Operator Overloading

About 5 min read

Existing English translations were reused. 1 current source blocks remain in Simplified Chinese, without triggering paid translation.

1.Friend

In life, your home has a living room (Public) and your bedroom (Private).

All guests who come to the living room can enter, but your bedroom is private, that is, only you can enter.

However, you can also allow your best female friends and best male friends to enter.

In a program, if some private attributes are also intended to be accessible by certain special functions or classes outside the class, the friend mechanism is needed.

The purpose of a friend is to allow a function or class to access private members of another class.

The keyword for friend is ==friend==

Three Implementations of Friend

  • Global functions as friends
  • Class as friend
  • Member function as friend

1.1.Global functions as friends

class Building
{
	//告诉编译器 goodGay全局函数 是 Building类的好朋友，可以访问类中的私有内容
	friend void goodGay(Building * building);

public:

	Building()
	{
		this->m_SittingRoom = "客厅";
		this->m_BedRoom = "卧室";
	}

public:
	string m_SittingRoom; //客厅

private:
	string m_BedRoom; //卧室
};

void goodGay(Building * building)
{
	cout << "好基友正在访问： " << building->m_SittingRoom << endl;
	cout << "好基友正在访问： " << building->m_BedRoom << endl;
}

void test01()
{
	Building b;
	goodGay(&b);
}

int main(){

	test01();

	return 0;
}

Operation result:

好基友正在访问： 客厅
好基友正在访问： 卧室

1.2.friend class

class Building;
class goodGay
{
public:

	goodGay();
	void visit();

private:
	Building *building;
};

class Building
{
	//告诉编译器 goodGay类是Building类的好朋友，可以访问到Building类中私有内容
	friend class goodGay;

public:
	Building();

public:
	string m_SittingRoom; //客厅
private:
	string m_BedRoom;//卧室
};

Building::Building()
{
	this->m_SittingRoom = "客厅";
	this->m_BedRoom = "卧室";
}

goodGay::goodGay()
{
	building = new Building;
}

void goodGay::visit()
{
	cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_SittingRoom << endl;
	cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_BedRoom << endl;
}

void test01()
{
	goodGay gg;
	gg.visit();

}

int main(){

	test01();

	return 0;
}

Operation result:

好基友正在访问客厅
好基友正在访问卧室

1.3.Member functions as friends


class Building;
class goodGay
{
public:

	goodGay();
	void visit(); //只让visit函数作为Building的好朋友，可以发访问Building中私有内容
	void visit2(); 

private:
	Building *building;
};

class Building
{
	//告诉编译器  goodGay类中的visit成员函数 是Building好朋友，可以访问私有内容
	friend void goodGay::visit();

public:
	Building();

public:
	string m_SittingRoom; //客厅
private:
	string m_BedRoom;//卧室
};

Building::Building()
{
	this->m_SittingRoom = "客厅";
	this->m_BedRoom = "卧室";
}

goodGay::goodGay()
{
	building = new Building;
}

void goodGay::visit()
{
	cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_SittingRoom << endl;
	cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_BedRoom << endl;
}

void goodGay::visit2()
{
	cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_SittingRoom << endl;
	//cout << "好基友正在访问" << building->m_BedRoom << endl;
}

void test01()
{
	goodGay  gg;
	gg.visit();

}

int main(){
    
	test01();

	return 0;
}

Operation result:

好基友正在访问客厅
好基友正在访问卧室

2.Operator overloading

Operator overloading concept: redefining an existing operator to give it another function, so as to adapt to different data types

2.1.Plus operator overloading

Purpose: Implement the addition operation for two custom data types

class Person {
public:
	Person() {};
	Person(int a, int b)
	{
		this->m_A = a;
		this->m_B = b;
	}
	//成员函数实现 + 号运算符重载
	Person operator+(const Person& p) {
		Person temp;
		temp.m_A = this->m_A + p.m_A;
		temp.m_B = this->m_B + p.m_B;
		return temp;
	}

public:
	int m_A;
	int m_B;
};

//全局函数实现 + 号运算符重载
//Person operator+(const Person& p1, const Person& p2) {
//	Person temp(0, 0);
//	temp.m_A = p1.m_A + p2.m_A;
//	temp.m_B = p1.m_B + p2.m_B;
//	return temp;
//}

//运算符重载 可以发生函数重载 
Person operator+(const Person& p2, int val)  
{
	Person temp;
	temp.m_A = p2.m_A + val;
	temp.m_B = p2.m_B + val;
	return temp;
}

void test() {

	Person p1(10, 10);
	Person p2(20, 20);

	//成员函数方式
	Person p3 = p2 + p1;  //相当于 p2.operaor+(p1)
	cout << "mA:" << p3.m_A << " mB:" << p3.m_B << endl;

	Person p4 = p3 + 10; //相当于 operator+(p3,10)
	cout << "mA:" << p4.m_A << " mB:" << p4.m_B << endl;

}

int main() {

	test();


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

mA:30 mB:30
mA:40 mB:40

Summary 1: It is impossible to change the operators for expressions of built-in data types.

Summary 2: Do not abuse operator overloading

2.2.Left shift operator overloading

Function: Can output custom data types

class Person {
	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, Person& p);

public:

	Person(int a, int b)
	{
		this->m_A = a;
		this->m_B = b;
	}

	//成员函数 实现不了  p << cout 不是我们想要的效果
	//void operator<<(Person& p){
	//}

private:
	int m_A;
	int m_B;
};

//全局函数实现左移重载
//ostream对象只能有一个
ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, Person& p) {
	out << "a:" << p.m_A << " b:" << p.m_B;
	return out;
}

void test() {

	Person p1(10, 20);

	cout << p1 << "hello world" << endl; //链式编程
}

int main() {

	test();


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

a:10 b:20hello world

Summary: Overloading the left shift operator in combination with a friend function enables output of custom data types.

2.3.Increment operator overloading

Function: Implement your own integer data by overloading the increment operator


class MyInteger {

	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, MyInteger myint);

public:
	MyInteger() {
		m_Num = 0;
	}
	//前置++
	MyInteger& operator++() {
		//先++
		m_Num++;
		//再返回
		return *this;
	}

	//后置++
	MyInteger operator++(int) {
		//先返回
		MyInteger temp = *this; //记录当前本身的值，然后让本身的值加1，但是返回的是以前的值，达到先返回后++；
		m_Num++;
		return temp;
	}

private:
	int m_Num;
};

ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, MyInteger myint) {
	out << myint.m_Num;
	return out;
}

//前置++ 先++ 再返回
void test01() {
	MyInteger myInt;
	cout << ++myInt << endl;
	cout << myInt << endl;
}

//后置++ 先返回 再++
void test02() {

	MyInteger myInt;
	cout << myInt++ << endl;
	cout << myInt << endl;
}

int main() {

	test01();
	//test02();


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

1
1

Summary: Pre-increment returns a reference, post-increment returns a value.

2.4.Assignment Operator Overloading

c++编译器至少给一个类添加4个函数

  1. Default constructor (no parameters, empty function body)
  2. Default destructor (no parameters, empty function body)
  3. Default copy constructor, performs value copy of attributes
  4. Assignment operator operator=, performs value copy of attributes

If a class contains a member that points to the heap, assignment operations will also cause shallow and deep copy problems.

Example:

class Person
{
public:

	Person(int age)
	{
		//将年龄数据开辟到堆区
		m_Age = new int(age);
	}

	//重载赋值运算符 
	Person& operator=(Person &p)
	{
		if (m_Age != NULL)
		{
			delete m_Age;
			m_Age = NULL;
		}
		//编译器提供的代码是浅拷贝
		//m_Age = p.m_Age;

		//提供深拷贝 解决浅拷贝的问题
		m_Age = new int(*p.m_Age);

		//返回自身
		return *this;
	}

	~Person()
	{
		if (m_Age != NULL)
		{
			delete m_Age;
			m_Age = NULL;
		}
	}

	//年龄的指针
	int *m_Age;

};

void test01()
{
	Person p1(18);

	Person p2(20);

	Person p3(30);

	p3 = p2 = p1; //赋值操作

	cout << "p1的年龄为：" << *p1.m_Age << endl;

	cout << "p2的年龄为：" << *p2.m_Age << endl;

	cout << "p3的年龄为：" << *p3.m_Age << endl;
}

int main() {

	test01();

	//int a = 10;
	//int b = 20;
	//int c = 30;

	//c = b = a;
	//cout << "a = " << a << endl;
	//cout << "b = " << b << endl;
	//cout << "c = " << c << endl;


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

p1的年龄为：18
p2的年龄为：18
p3的年龄为：18

2.5.Relational operator overloading

**Purpose:** Overloading relational operators allows comparison operations between two objects of custom types.

Example:

class Person
{
public:
	Person(string name, int age)
	{
		this->m_Name = name;
		this->m_Age = age;
	};

	bool operator==(Person & p)
	{
		if (this->m_Name == p.m_Name && this->m_Age == p.m_Age)
		{
			return true;
		}
		else
		{
			return false;
		}
	}

	bool operator!=(Person & p)
	{
		if (this->m_Name == p.m_Name && this->m_Age == p.m_Age)
		{
			return false;
		}
		else
		{
			return true;
		}
	}

	string m_Name;
	int m_Age;
};

void test01()
{
	//int a = 0;
	//int b = 0;

	Person a("孙悟空", 18);
	Person b("孙悟空", 18);

	if (a == b)
	{
		cout << "a和b相等" << endl;
	}
	else
	{
		cout << "a和b不相等" << endl;
	}

	if (a != b)
	{
		cout << "a和b不相等" << endl;
	}
	else
	{
		cout << "a和b相等" << endl;
	}
}

int main() {

	test01();


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

a和b相等
a和b相等

2.6.Function call operator overloading

  • The function call operator () can also be overloaded
  • Because after overloading, the way it is used is very much like a function call, it is called a functor
  • Functors have no fixed way of being written and are very flexible

Example:

class MyPrint
{
public:
	void operator()(string text)
	{
		cout << text << endl;
	}

};
void test01()
{
	//重载的（）操作符 也称为仿函数
	MyPrint myFunc;
	myFunc("hello world");
}

class MyAdd
{
public:
	int operator()(int v1, int v2)
	{
		return v1 + v2;
	}
};

void test02()
{
	MyAdd add;
	int ret = add(10, 10);
	cout << "ret = " << ret << endl;

	//匿名对象调用  
	cout << "MyAdd()(100,100) = " << MyAdd()(100, 100) << endl;
}

int main() {

	test01();
	test02();


	return 0;
}

Operation result:

hello world
ret = 20
MyAdd()(100,100) = 200