From: Jason Roelofs <jameskilton@...>
Date: 2006-12-22T04:06:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Method named ***(other)

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On 12/21/06, Luciano Ramalho <ramalho@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 12/21/06, Vidar Hokstad <vidar.hokstad@gmail.com> wrote:
> > You can't expand the set
> > of operators, and '***' isn't among them.
>
> Thanks for the reply, Vidar.
>
> Is there a way I can ask irb to list all the operators which can be
> overloaded?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Luciano
>
>

"operators" are only special in that the parser is built to recognize a few
constructs, mainly the mathematical operators (+, -, /, *, etc). For the
programmer's case, they are all methods on some object, and all methods can
be overwritten. So

class A
  def +(args)
  end
end

class B
  def *(args)
  end
end

def /(args)
end

etc...

Always keep in mind this simple feature: 1 + 1 => 1.+(1) and you'll realize
that there really isn't "operator overloading" in Ruby, everything is just a
message.

Jason

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