Thread: Constructors and assignment

Hello, everyone. I'm learning C++ after coming from a C background. C++ does my head in by complicating things that in C can be assumed to be simple! Could someone please clarify for me *exactly* what operations are generated by the following lines of code - constructors, copying, assignment, etc?

Code:

1.  int i = 0;
2.  int i ; i = 0;
3.  int i(0);
4.  int i {0};

Am I able to overload all of those operations for int? Is there any difference between "int" and a user-defined type in terms of which operations I am able to overload?

Richard

What do you think are the operations generated? And why?

What do you mean by overload?

Jim

Hi, Jim. This is what I think are the operations generated.

Code:

1.  int i = 0;
    int j(0);  // int constructor, given a parameter of 0
    int i(j);  // int copy constructor, given a reference to j

Code:

2.  int i ; i = 0;
    int i(); // int constructor, given no parameter
    int j(0); // int constructor, given a parameter of 0
    i = j; // assignment operator

Code:

3.  int i(0);
    // Calls int constructor with parameter of 0

Code:

4.  int i {0};
    // Calls int constructor with parameter of 0

The second part of my question is - is there any difference between builtin types and user-defined types in terms of my ability to define/overload constructors and operators?

Yes! We can most certainly help you, OP.

Consider using Compiler Explorer

Here you can play around with all kinds of C++ code and see how it compiles across various compilers.

Originally Posted by Richardcavell

Am I able to overload all of those operations for int? Is there any difference between "int" and a user-defined type in terms of which operations I am able to overload?

You can't overload anything at all for built in types. I.e., you can't change the meanings of the operators for built in types, but you can define meanings for them when used with user-defined types.

As for the code generated by your examples, they would all be identical. In what way could they differ? They allocate space for an integer and set it to 0.