Who deletes the copied instance in + operator ? (c++)
- by Dima
Hello,
I searched how to implement + operator properly all over the internet and all the results i found do the following steps :
const MyClass MyClass::operator+(const MyClass &other) const
{
MyClass result = *this; // Make a copy of myself. Same as MyClass result(*this);
result += other; // Use += to add other to the copy.
return result; // All done!
}
I have few questions about this "process" :
Isn't that stupid to implement + operator this way, it calls the assignment operator(which copies the class) in the first line and then the copy constructor in the return (which also copies the class , due to the fact that the return is by value, so it destroys the first copy and creates a new one.. which is frankly not really smart ... )
When i write a=b+c, the b+c part creates a new copy of the class, then the 'a=' part copies the copy to himself.
who deletes the copy that b+c created ?
Is there a better way to implement + operator without coping the class twice, and also without any memory issues ?
thanks in advance
