Operator[] error

I've just ran into a problem with this:

Code:

#include "stdafx.h"

using namespace std;

class HashTable
{
    int data[100];

public:
    HashTable();
    ~HashTable();

    int operator[](char *rhs);
};

HashTable::HashTable()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
        data[i] = 0;
}

HashTable::~HashTable()
{

}

// operator[]
int HashTable::operator[](char *rhs)
{
    int hash = 0;
    int i = 0;

    // construct a hash from the string
    for (; *(rhs + i) != 0; i++)
        hash += static_cast<int>(*(rhs + i));

    cout << "hash: " << hash << endl;
    return 0;
}


int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    HashTable *ht = new HashTable();

    ht["lee"];

    delete ht;
    return 0;
}

Error:

Code:

c:\Documents and Settings\lee\Desktop\sandbox\sandbox.cpp(46) : error C2107: illegal index, indirection not allowed

Tis the first time I've had this error. I'm scared.
Oh I know the hash algorithm is corny and the data array seems a bit pointless, but I have plans, glorious glorious plans!.

hmm... perhaps you mean to write:

Code:

(*ht)["lee"];

instead?

Oh, and remember that subscript operators often come in pairs.

Originally Posted by laserlight

hmm... perhaps you mean to write:

Code:

(*ht)["lee"];

instead?

Oh, and remember that subscript operators often come in pairs.

I can't get my head around why the indirection is necessary.

Because ht is a pointer. So to call a member function of the class like operator[], you need to dereference the pointer.

Oh yeah I see. Sorry I wasn't recalling operator[] is a function.

Oh yeah you can do this:

Code:

ht->operator[]("lee");

Neat. Well that's the thing I learnt today \/