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Asked: 2026-05-11T19:45:02+00:00

I have many math types like Point3, and I am running into the dilemma

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I have many math types like Point3, and I am running into the dilemma of implementing operators, instance and static methods for arithmetic.

So say the type is Point3. Where a, b, c is a Point3, I sure wanna be able to say:

c = a + b;

But should I also implement:

c = Point3.Add (a, b);

And this:

c = a.Add (b);

To me #3 is useless and less readable than #1. And #2 seems like pointless unless you have an interface for Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, etc.

What do you recommend? Is there any problem or drawback with just having the operators (+, -, *, /)? Would this impede the generics arithmetic (I know it doesn’t support it directly, but maybe having static methods would be useful in a workaround)?

Would a guidelines for this matter whether it’s a class or a struct?

EDIT: Also for #3, I forgot to mention that this is for an immutable type, so returns a new Point3, instead of changing a.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    In general, I think Microsoft seems to have kind of done A+B in most of their classes similar to this.

    For samples, see the entire System.Windows.Media.Media3D namespace, as well as the XNA math classes. Both have point/vector/quaternion/matrices/etc, and use Class.Operator(a,b), and occasionally do c = a + b;

    Personally, I would do the first where it makes sense and is clear, and always do the second option. I usually implement the first using the second option (the operator is implemented using the static method).

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