Maybe to a non C++ dev, but a lot of C++ is probably incomprehensible to a non C++ dev, just like there are other laguages that are incomprehensible to C++ devs. To me it makes perfect sense as it works just like all the other operator overloads.
auto
- let the compiler deduce return type
operator<=>
- override the spaceship operator (pretty sure it exists in python too)
(const ClassName&)
- compare this class, presumably defined in Class name, with a const reference of type Class name, i.e. its own type.
const
- comparison can be made for const objects
= default;
- Use the default implementation, which is comparing all the member variables.
An alternate more explicit version, which is actually what people recommend:
auto operator<=>(const ClassName&, const ClassName&) = default;
if I just want to have less than comparison for example I would:
This one makes it explicit that you're comparing two Class name objects.
if I just want to have less than comparison for example I would:
auto operator<(const ClassName&, const ClassName&) = default;
If I need to compare against another class I could define:
auto operator<(const ClassName&, const OtherClass&)
It makes perfect sense actually. I did write another comment here if you are interested.
This is how operator overloads were written going back to the initial version of C++ back in 1985. The only new thing is that we can now add
= default
to get the compiler to generate a default implementation that compares all the member variables for you.