conversion from different classes

before any one tells me that this its bad to do this or its dangerous..ive already heard it on IRC and didnt get an answer that probably would've took them 10 seconds to answer than have a big b!tching fest for 20 minutes on how dangerous they are.

the book im following converts time24 class to an object of time12. military time to civilian time.
heres the 2 classes:

Code:

---

class time12
{
private:
        bool pm;                //true = pm, false = am
        int hrs;                //1 to 12
        int mins;                //0-59
       
public:
        time12():        pm(true),hrs(0),mins(0)                //contructor to init everything to 0
        {        }

        time12(bool ap, int h,int m):        pm(ap),hrs(h),mins(m)                //3-arg constructor
        {        }

        void display() const                //display time12
        {
                cout << hrs << ':';

                if(mins < 10)                        //extra zero if minutes is less than 10
                        cout << '0';

                cout << mins << ' ';
                string am_pm = pm ? "p.m." : "a.m."; //create obj of string- if pm=true then "p.m" else "a.m."
                cout << am_pm;                                                //display string
        }

};
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///////////class time24///////////////////////////////
class time24
{
private:
        int hours;
        int minutes;
        int seconds;

public:
        time24():  hours(0),minutes(0),seconds(0)
        {        }

        time24(int h,int m,int s):        hours(h),minutes(m),seconds(s)
        {        }

        void display() const
        {
                if(hours < 10)
                        cout << '0';
                cout << hours << ':';
                if(minutes < 10)
                        cout << '0';
                cout << minutes << ':';
                if(seconds < 10)
                        cout << '0';
                cout << seconds;
        }
        operator time12() const;        //conversion operator
};
//--------------------------------------------------

time24::operator time12() const                //conversion function
{
        int hrs24 = hours;                                //assign time24.hours to hrs24
        bool pm = hours < 12 ? false : true;        //if time24.hours < 12 then its a.m else its pm

        int roundMins = seconds < 30 ? minutes : minutes+1;        //round minutes at 30 seconds

        if(roundMins == 60)        //if minutes rounded off higher
        {                                        //and 60 was the result
                roundMins = 0;        //set minutes to zero
                ++hrs24;                //and add 1 hour to it

                if(hrs24 == 12 || hrs24 == 24)        //set am/pm accordingly if ithits 12 or 24
                        pm = (pm == true) ?  false : true;        //toggle am/pm
        }

        int hrs12 = (hrs24 < 13) ? hrs24 : hrs24 - 12;
       
        if(hrs12 == 0)                //00 is 12 a.m.
        {
                hrs12 = 12;
                pm = false;
        }
        return time12(pm,hrs12,roundMins);
}

---

the text in bold, could i name this anything i want? or does it have to be the class that im converting it to?

for those that cant resist telling me that this is dangerous to use. please tell me why.

thanks in advance :)

a) Yes, you have to name it this way. There is no part of the declaration that is free for naming. All three words are keywords or type identifiers.

b) I've used those operators before and it's like everything in C++: You can use it for good or you can make horrible mistakes with it. It all depends on your coding, nothing is unsafe by default or good by default.