What is the best signature for overloaded arithmetic operators in C++?
- by JohnMcG
I had assumed that the canonical form for operator+, assuming the existence of an overloaded operator+= member function, was like this:
const T operator+(const T& lhs, const T& rhs)
{
return T(lhs) +=rhs;
}
But it was pointed out to me that this would also work:
const T operator+ (T lhs, const T& rhs)
{
return lhs+=rhs;
}
In essence, this form transfers creation of the temporary from the body of the implementation to the function call.
It seems a little awkward to have different types for the two parameters, but is there anything wrong with the second form? Is there a reason to prefer one over the other?
