What is the difference between operator overloading and method overriding?

What is the difference between operator overloading and method overriding?

Operator overloading allows you to define custom behavior for operators (like + or -) for user-defined types. Method overriding, on the other hand, lets a subclass provide a specific implementation of a method that is already defined in its superclass.

Can you give me an example of operator overloading?

Sure! In Python, you can overload the + operator for a class like this:

class Vector:
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y

    def __add__(self, other):
        return Vector(self.x + other.x, self.y + other.y)

This allows you to add two Vector objects using the + operator.

And what about method overriding?

In method overriding, a subclass can provide a specific implementation of a method. For example:

class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        return "Some sound"

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Bark"

Here, the Dog class overrides the speak method of the Animal class.

Are there any languages that don't support operator overloading?

Yes, some programming languages like Java do not support operator overloading, while others like C++ and Python do.