Python Operator Overloading

Operator overloading is a powerful technique that allows us to make classes comparable and work with Python operators. In this blog post, we will explore how operator overloading can be used to enhance the functionality of our classes.

Let’s start by considering a simple class called Dog:

class Dog:
    def __init__(self, name, age):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age

Now, let’s create two Dog objects:

roger = Dog('Roger', 8)
syd = Dog('Syd', 7)

To compare these two objects based on their age property, we can use operator overloading. We will define the __gt__() method, which stands for greater than:

class Dog:
    def __init__(self, name, age):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age
    
    def __gt__(self, other):
        return True if self.age > other.age else False

Now, if we run print(roger > syd), we will get the result True.

Similarly, we can define other comparison operators using the following methods:

• __eq__() for equality (==)
• __lt__() for less than (<)
• __le__() for less than or equal to (<=)
• __ge__() for greater than or equal to (>=)
• __ne__() for not equal to (!=)

In addition to comparison operators, we can also overload arithmetic operators to work with our custom classes. Here are some examples:

• __add__() for the addition operator (+)
• __sub__() for the subtraction operator (-)
• __mul__() for the multiplication operator (*)
• __truediv__() for the division operator (/)
• __floordiv__() for the floor division operator (//)
• __mod__() for the modulus operator (%)
• __pow__() for the exponentiation operator (**)
• __rshift__() for the right shift operator (>>)
• __lshift__() for the left shift operator (<<)
• __and__() for the bitwise AND operator (&)
• __or__() for the bitwise OR operator (|)
• __xor__() for the bitwise XOR operator (^)

These methods allow our objects to respond to the corresponding operators.

By implementing operator overloading, we can make our classes more intuitive and flexible. It enables us to use Python operators with our custom classes, making our code more concise and readable.