Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!ames!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!uci-ics!sludwig From: sludwig@ics.uci.edu (Stefan Ludwig) Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2 Subject: Re: Defining Operators Summary: feel free to do it ! Keywords: Modula-2, operator overloading Message-ID: <1989Sep30.050044.12442@paris.ics.uci.edu> Date: 30 Sep 89 05:00:44 GMT References:Sender: news@paris.ics.uci.edu (Network News) Reply-To: Stefan Ludwig Organization: University of California, Irvine - Dept of ICS Lines: 32 In article Modula2 List writes: [stuff deleted] > Which (algebraically) reads exactly as you mean it. In Ada you can > define the '+' operator to be able to handle the Complex number type. > > Would such a feature be warranted in Modula-2? > > Here is some theoretical code: [stuff deleted] > The compiler or translator could substitute the necessary procedure > and make sure that the correct types are being used. > Thus, the compilable code would look like: [stuff deleted] I recently suggested operator overloading to Prof. Wirth. His argument is: the possibility you gain for coding programs does not justify the added complexity to the compiler. This guy is running for 'the smallest compiler in the world'-contest. His compilers are *really* small and *fast*. The Oberon compiler for the Ceres (NS32000 based) is just 39KB object code! It sure would be a nice feature to have, especially when you have object- oriented features (like in Object-Oberon). We're thinking about adding that to our Object-Oberon compiler...We'll see, just stay tuned. > > Alex > Just this guy... Stefan Stefan HM Ludwig "Don't flame my english, it's what they teach us in Swiss schools" E-MAIL: sludwig@ics.uci.edu until October 21st ludwig@badile.iis.ethz.ch later