alt Hacker NewsWhy have operators at all?
x = x.add(step.mul(2)).mod(width) x = imod(iadd(x, imul(step, 2)), width) x = (x + 2*step) % width
If 50% of the code you're working with is using vectors and matrices, not having operators for those parts is quite annoying.
Note that you can have vector operators without overloading, e.g. Odin has built in vector and matrix types.
But personally I think it's better to give the user more power instead of only letting the compiler author pick which types to allow operators on. Like how Java overloads + but only on the String class. Why do they get to do it, but not me?
Replies
you actually don't want "operator overloading", you want syntactic sugar. I once proposed just a special operator syntax at the parser level, but it got rejected, but if you REALLY wanted it, you could probably do this in about 100-120 lines as a fork of the zig compiler, just hacking (a <_> b) as a special form to be transformed into @"<_>"(a, b). Requiring parentheses elides questions about operator precedence.
const @"<+>" = @import("operator_module").plus;
...
const x = (a <+> b);> Why have operators at all?
I mean as an avid Lisp fan, I feel like Lisp basically answers the question of how much syntax you need in a langauge. I must admit though, not having to deal with operators precedence is really nice
(mod (+ x (* 2 step)) width)
Woah there, "=" is an operator! I'm afraid you're going to have to go to jail for using an operator in a no-operator zone.