Function overloading in C++

By: Babbar Ankit  

C++ permits the use of two function with the same name. However such functions essentially have different argument list. The difference can be in terms of number or type of arguments or both.

This process of using two or more functions with the same name but differing in the signature is called function overloading.

But overloading of functions with different return types are not allowed.

In overloaded functions , the function call determines which function definition will be executed.

The biggest advantage of overloading is that it helps us to perform same operations on different datatypes without  having the need to use separate names for each version.

Example

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int abslt(int );
long abslt(long );
float abslt(float );
double abslt(double );

int main()
{

int intgr=-5;
long lng=34225;
float flt=-5.56;
double dbl=-45.6768;
cout<<\" absoulte value of \"<<intgr<<\" = \"<<abslt(intgr)<<endl;
cout<<\" absoulte value of \"<<lng<<\" = \"<<abslt(lng)<<endl;
cout<<\" absoulte value of \"<<flt<<\" = \"<<abslt(flt)<<endl;
cout<<\" absoulte value of \"<<dbl<<\" = \"<<abslt(dbl)<<endl;
}
int abslt(int num)
{
if(num>=0)
return num;
else
 return (-num);
}
long abslt(long num)
{
if(num>=0)
return num;
else return (-num);
}
float abslt(float  num)
{
if(num>=0)
return num;
else return (-num);
}
double abslt(double  num)
{
if(num>=0)
return num;
else return (-num);
}

OUTPUT
 absoulte value of -5 = 5
 absoulte value of 34225 = 34225
 absoulte value of -5.56 = 5.56
 absoulte value of -45.6768 = 45.6768


the above function finds the absolute value of any number int, long, float ,double.

In  C, the above is implemented as a set of different function abs()-for int, fabs()-for double ,labs()-for long.

The use of overloading may not have reduced the code complexity /size but has definitely made it easier to understand and avoided the necessity of remembering different names for each version function which perform identically the same task.

Authors Url: http://www.botskool.com/programming-tutorials




Archived Comments

1. This example of function overloading is easy for Understanding.
View Tutorial          By: Pranay Gaikwad at 2012-10-30 14:02:15

2. thanks brother i hope this is most important for every one thanks for lot.
View Tutorial          By: manglesh upadhyay at 2012-09-26 04:40:41

3. through this i understand functional overloading easily and my concept is also cleared thanku.......
View Tutorial          By: mahwash at 2012-09-19 15:29:21

4. i felt some how better by reading this
View Tutorial          By: janmejay barik at 2012-08-22 07:05:20

5. why return&else statment repeating?
View Tutorial          By: sudhar at 2012-07-12 14:50:45

6. why we use int with main
View Tutorial          By: praveen at 2012-03-26 04:28:20

7. What's with the \ " ?
Your code doesn't even compile with that.

View Tutorial          By: Dan at 2011-12-29 10:20:08

8. very well
View Tutorial          By: gowri at 2011-08-01 10:00:49

9. Its very useful to me
View Tutorial          By: suba at 2011-07-04 11:21:19

10. practical example of funcation overloding
View Tutorial          By: yogesh at 2010-12-19 08:39:06

11. i want this program:
Using function overloading to
(i). Increment the value of a varia

View Tutorial          By: surya at 2010-10-18 01:12:16

12. Simply nice..
View Tutorial          By: Sathish at 2010-09-06 04:43:24

13. it is very good continue it
View Tutorial          By: nebil at 2010-06-06 09:20:58


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