UNIVERSITY OF CHAKWAL
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
(Object Oriented Programming)
Lab 08
Polymorphism (Function
overloading ,Operator overloading)
Lab Instructor: Engr. Samina Bilquees
Objectives
In this lab, you will learn:
Polymorphism
Function Overloading
Operator Overloading
1. Polymorphism
Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many classes that are related to each
other by inheritance. Like we specified in the previous chapter; Inheritance lets us inherit attributes and
methods from another class. Polymorphism uses those methods to perform different tasks. This allows us
to perform a single action in different ways.
For example, think of a base class called Animal that has a method called animalSound(). Derived classes
of Animals could be Pigs, Cats, Dogs, Birds - And they also have their own implementation of an animal
sound (the pig oinks, and the cat meows, etc.):
C++ allows you to specify more than one definition for a function name or an operator in the same
scope, which is called function overloading and operator overloading respectively.An overloaded
declaration is a declaration that is declared with the same name as a previously declared declaration in the
same scope, except that both declarations have different arguments and obviously different definition
(implementation).
When you call an overloaded function or operator, the compiler determines the most appropriate
definition to use, by comparing the argument types you have used to call the function or operator with the
parameter types specified in the definitions. The process of selecting the most appropriate overloaded
function or operator is called overload resolution.
1.1 Function Overloading
You can have multiple definitions for the same function name in the same scope. In C++, two
functions can have the same name if the number and/or type of arguments passed is different. These
functions having the same name but different arguments are known as overloaded functions. For
example:
Code Example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class printData {
public:
void print(int i) {
cout << "Printing int: " << i << endl;
}
void print(double f) {
cout << "Printing float: " << f << endl;
}
void print(char* c) {
cout << "Printing character: " << c << endl;
}
};
int main(void) {
printData pd;
// Call print to print integer
pd.print(5);
// Call print to print float
pd.print(500.263);
// Call print to print character
pd.print("Hello C++");
return 0;
}
1.2 Operator Overloading
You can redefine or overload most of the built-in operators available in C++. Thus, a programmer can use
operators with user-defined types as well. Overloaded operators are functions with special names: the
keyword "operator" followed by the symbol for the operator being defined. Like any other function, an
overloaded operator has a return type and a parameter list. Overloaded operators are functions with special
names: the keyword "operator" followed by the symbol for the operator being defined. Like any other
function, an overloaded operator has a return type and a parameter list.
Box operator+(const Box&);
Unary Operator Overloading
Binary operator Overloading
1.2.1 Unary Operator Overloading
The unary operators operate on a single operand and following are the examples of Unary operators −
The increment (++) and decrement (--) operators.
The unary minus (-) operator.
The logical not (!) operator.
The unary operators operate on the object for which they were called and normally, this operator appears
on the left side of the object, as in !obj, -obj, and ++obj but sometime they can be used as postfix as well
like obj++ or obj--. Following example explain how minus (-) operator can be overloaded for prefix as
well as postfix usage.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Distance {
private:
int feet; // 0 to infinite
int inches; // 0 to 12
public:
// required constructors
Distance() {
feet = 0;
inches = 0;
}
Distance(int f, int i) {
feet = f;
inches = i;
}
// method to display distance
void displayDistance() {
cout << "F: " << feet << " I:" << inches <<endl;
}
// overloaded minus (-) operator
Distance operator- () {
feet = -feet;
inches = -inches;
return Distance(feet, inches);
}
};
int main() {
Distance D1(11, 10), D2(-5, 11);
-D1; // apply negation
D1.displayDistance(); // display D1
-D2; // apply negation
D2.displayDistance(); // display D2
return 0;
}
1.2.2 Binary Operator overloading
The binary operators take two arguments and following are the examples of Binary operators. You use
binary operators very frequently like addition (+) operator, subtraction (-) operator and division (/)
operator. Following example explains how addition (+) operator can be overloaded. Similar way, you can
overload subtraction (-) and division (/) operators. Following is the example to show the concept of
operator over loading using a member function. Here an object is passed as an argument whose properties
will be accessed using this object, the object which will call this operator can be accessed
using this operator as explained below −.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Box {
double length; // Length of a box
double breadth; // Breadth of a box
double height; // Height of a box
public:
double getVolume(void) {
return length * breadth * height;
}
void setLength( double len ) {
length = len;
}
void setBreadth( double bre ) {
breadth = bre;
}
void setHeight( double hei ) {
height = hei;
}
// Overload + operator to add two Box objects.
Box operator+(const Box& b) {
Box box;
box.length = this->length + b.length;
box.breadth = this->breadth + b.breadth;
box.height = this->height + b.height;
return box;
}
};
// Main function for the program
int main() {
Box Box1; // Declare Box1 of type Box
Box Box2; // Declare Box2 of type Box
Box Box3; // Declare Box3 of type Box
double volume = 0.0; // Store the volume of a box here
// box 1 specification
Box1.setLength(6.0);
Box1.setBreadth(7.0);
Box1.setHeight(5.0);
// box 2 specification
Box2.setLength(12.0);
Box2.setBreadth(13.0);
Box2.setHeight(10.0);
// volume of box 1
volume = Box1.getVolume();
cout << "Volume of Box1 : " << volume <<endl;
// volume of box 2
volume = Box2.getVolume();
cout << "Volume of Box2 : " << volume <<endl;
// Add two object as follows:
Box3 = Box1 + Box2;
// volume of box 3
volume = Box3.getVolume();
cout << "Volume of Box3 : " << volume <<endl;
return 0;
}
