Operator Overloading
Explore how to enable custom behaviors for operators in Python classes by overloading special methods such as __add__ and __sub__. Understand the role of operator overloading in making objects interact intuitively and see practical examples with a complex number class.
Overloading operators in Python
Operators in Python can be overloaded to operate in a certain user-defined way. Whenever an operator is used in Python, its corresponding method is invoked to perform its predefined function. For example, when the + operator is called, it invokes the special function, __add__, in Python, but this operator acts differently for different data types. For example, the + operator adds the numbers when it is used between two int data types and merges two strings when it is used between string data types.
Run the code below for the implementation of the + operator for integers and strings.
Overloading operators for a user-defined class
When a class is defined, its objects can interact with each other through the operators, but it is necessary to define the behavior of these operators through operator overloading.
We are going to implement a class that represents a complex number.“ A complex number consists of a real part and an imaginary part.
When we add a complex number, the real part is added to the real part, and the imaginary part is added to the imaginary part.
Similarly, when we subtract a complex number, the real part is subtracted from the real part, and the imaginary part is subtracted from the imaginary part.
An example of this is shown below:
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