Question

Is there a way I can call an operator overload in C++ and call the parameter’s function during the comparison?

For example:

class MyClass{
  private:
    int x;
    int y;
  public:
    MyClass(int x, int y);
    int getX();
    int getY();
    bool operator < (const MyClass &other) const {
        return (x < other.getX()); //this does not work!
        // this would work, though, if x was public:
        // return x < other.x;
    }
};

Basically, where I call other.getX(), how can I make it return its own x-value through a function to compare to the local one, instead of having to make x public? Is there a way of doing that?

Thanks for all your help!

Answer 1

You can declare the operator as a friend of the class.

Edit: I seem to have tomatoes on my eyes, your operator is class member and already has private access. You could friend it however it was defined outside of class scope.