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Friend Function vs. Member Function for Operator Overloading: When is a Friend Function Preferred for `
Friend Function vs. Member Function for Operator Overloading: When is a Friend Function Preferred for `
Jan 03, 2025 am 04:14 AM
Operator Overloading: Friend Function vs. Member Function for "<<"
In C , overloaded operators can be implemented either as friend functions or member functions. When it comes to the stream insertion operator "<<," certain considerations guide the choice between these approaches.
Using a Friend Function
friend ostream & operator<<(ostream & os, const Paragraph& p) {
return os << p.to_str();
}
This approach is commonly used for stream operators because:
- It allows access to the stream object (os), which is necessary for performing the stream insertion.
- It follows the convention of stream operators returning a stream reference for chaining purposes.
Using a Member Function
ostream & operator<<(Paragraph const& rhs);
While it's tempting to think that member functions should be used for all class methods, this approach is not recommended for the "<<" operator for several reasons:
- You cannot access the stream object (os) from a member function.
- You would need to manually call the "to_str" method in the member function, which is redundant and error-prone.
- It's not conventional for stream operators to be member functions.
Example
Consider the following class:
class Paragraph {
std::string m_para;
public:
Paragraph(std::string const& init) : m_para(init) {}
std::string const& to_str() const { return m_para; }
};
Rationale
In this case, using a friend function for the "<<" operator is the preferred choice because:
- It provides access to the stream object (os) for streaming.
- It follows the convention of stream operators returning a stream reference.
- It reduces code duplication and potential errors compared to using a member function.
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