Index

Operator Overloading Internals

Internally, Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) does not understand operator methods. For that reason, the C# compiler converts operator methods into normal functions. Figure A-2 presents a view of the Summation class from the previous section. Although there are no operator methods, there are replacement functions such as op_Addition and op_Explicit.

Figure A-2: View of the Summation class

Table A-1 lists the replacement methods for mathematical and logical operators.

Table A-1: Replacement Methods for Mathematical and Logical Operators
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Operator	Replacement Method
operator+	op_Addition
operator-	op_Subtraction
operator*	op_Multiply
operator++	op_Increment
operator--	op_Decrement
operator/	op_Division
operator%	op_Modulus
operator&	op_BitwiseAnd
operator|	op_BitwiseOr
operator^	op_ExclusiveOr
operator false	op_False
operator true	op_True
operator>>	op_RightShift
operator<<	op_LeftShift
operator!	op_LogicalNot
operator~	op_OnesComplement

Table A-2 lists the replacement methods for relational operators.

Table A-2: Replacement Methods for Relational Operators

Operator	Replacement Method
operator>	op_GreaterThan
operator<	op_LessThan
operator>=	op_GreaterThanOrEqual
operator<=	op_LessThanOrEqual
operator==	op_Equality
operator!=	op_Inequality

Conversion operators are implemented as op_Explicit and op_Implicit methods. The methods are overloaded for every combination of explicit or implicit conversion operator provided in the contained type. The following class has two explicit operators and one implicit conversion operator:

 public class ZClass{     public static explicit operator int(ZClass obj) {         return 0;     }     public static explicit operator float(ZClass obj) {         return (float) 0;     }     public static implicit operator double(ZClass obj) {         return 0;     } } 

Figure A-3 is an internal view of the application. There are two overloaded op_Explicit methods and a single op_Implicit method.

Figure A-3: View of ZClass