Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!taumet!steve
From: steve@taumet.com (Stephen Clamage)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: reference parameters for overloaded operators
Message-ID: <402@taumet.com>
Date: 16 Aug 90 16:36:01 GMT
References: <1990Aug13.144540.7804@ctk1.UUCP>
Organization: Taumetric Corporation, San Diego
Lines: 17

chris@ctk1.UUCP (Chris Old) writes:

|When should one use references rather than passing by value to
|overloaded operators?

|I realise that references will save some overhead for large structures,
|but the rather scanty manual I have, seemed to indicate that there is
|another reason.

The overhead can be significant even for a small structure, since the
copy constructor must be called to initialize the formal parameter.

The return value must be a reference if you want an lvalue, such as
for operator[].
-- 

Steve Clamage, TauMetric Corp, steve@taumet.com