Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!claris!apple!lsr
From: lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Why doesn't c++ allow overloading member operators?
Message-ID: <7755@apple.Apple.Com>
Date: 22 Mar 88 22:49:36 GMT
References: <11778@sri-spam.istc.sri.com> <8180005@eecs.nwu.edu> <5868@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: lsr@apple.UUCP (Larry Rosenstein)
Organization: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer
Lines: 16

In article <5868@watdragon.waterloo.edu> gjditchfield@violet.waterloo.edu (Glen Ditchfield) writes:
>
>Another problem is that "." functions are often proposed as a way of
>getting lvalue pseudo-members.  A Trellis/Owl paper (in OOPSLA '86?)
>gives as an example a thermostat object whose setting is changed by
>assigning to the "Celsius" field or to the "Fahrenheit" field.  The value

Trellis/Owl is based on CLU.  In CLU the expression 'x.name' was syntactic
sugar for the invocation 'typeof(x)$get_name(x)'.  The assignment 'y.name :=
q' was sugar for the invocation 'typeof(y)$set_name(x, q)'.  It seems as if
C++ could use the same kind of mechanism.  

-- 
		 Larry Rosenstein,  Object Specialist
 Apple Computer, Inc.  20525 Mariani Ave, MS 32E  Cupertino, CA 95014
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