Class operators when inheriting

Hello. I'm making a class called "Packet" which will be used to build packet buffers for an online server that i'm coding for a game. The Packet class "inherits" a class called "ByteStream". The reason i can't just use ByteStream is because the protocol for the game is very strange and integers need to be formatted in a specific format before they can be writted/read.

When i inherit a class, do i have to rewrite all the operators the class overloads? I think for some reason the compiler is calling the default "=" operator (where it does a shallow copy or whatever it's called) rather than calling the "=" operator defined in ByteStream. Heres what Packet looks like:

Code:

---

class Packet:
  public ByteStream
{
...
}

---

So if i did this:

Code:

---

Packet packet;
packet = Packet();

---

Would that call ByteStream::operator=(const ByteStream&)??

No (to the best of my knowledge).

--
Mats

Yes, it will, because Packet can be implicitly converted to ByteStream&.
But take heed to make sure the operator will make sure it does what you want, because it will operate on the base object and not the derived object.

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::endl;

class A
{
public:
        A& operator = (A&) { cout << "A::operator =" << endl; return *this; }
};

class B: public A
{
};

int main()
{
        B b1, b2;
        b1 = b2;
}

---

Output:
A::operator =

Ok one more question. The constructors...I have to rewrite these right? Like do i have to do this?:

Code:

---

    Packet():
        ByteStream(){}

    Packet(const char* data, size_t dataSize):
        ByteStream(data, dataSize){}

    Packet(const string& str):
        ByteStream(str) {}

    Packet(const char* str):
        ByteStream(str, strlen(str)){}

    Packet(const Packet& packet):
        ByteStream(packet){}

    template <class T>
    Packet(const T& value):
        ByteStream(value){}

---

Yes, I suppose this is correct (you do have to rewrite the constructors).

Quote:

---

When i inherit a class, do i have to rewrite all the operators the class overloads?

---

First of all, you do not inherit a class, but you derive a class (let's say B) from another (let's say A). This will make class B inherit all member functions from class A, including operator functions:

13.5 Overloaded operators

6. An operator function shall either be a non-static member function or be a non-member function and have at
least one parameter whose type is a class, a reference to a class, an enumeration, or a reference to an enu-
meration. (...) Operator functions are inherited in the same manner as other base class functions.

So if you don't override the inherited function, it'll call the operator function of the base class.