Add section on operator overloading.

This commit is contained in:
Stephen Chung 2020-04-19 18:32:53 +08:00
parent d3d62c7dd9
commit dd09dbf79e

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@ -14,13 +14,14 @@ to add scripting to any application.
Rhai's current features set:
* `no-std` support
* Easy integration with Rust native functions and data types, including getter/setter methods
* Easy integration with Rust native functions and types, including getter/setter/methods
* Easily call a script-defined function from Rust
* Freely pass variables/constants into a script via an external [`Scope`]
* Fairly efficient (1 million iterations in 0.75 sec on my 5 year old laptop)
* Low compile-time overhead (~0.6 sec debug/~3 sec release for script runner app)
* Easy-to-use language similar to JS+Rust
* Support for overloaded functions
* Support for function overloading
* Support for operator overloading
* Compiled script is optimized for repeat evaluations
* Support for minimal builds by excluding unneeded language features
* Very few additional dependencies (right now only [`num-traits`](https://crates.io/crates/num-traits/)
@ -598,7 +599,7 @@ Generic functions
-----------------
Rust generic functions can be used in Rhai, but separate instances for each concrete type must be registered separately.
Essentially this is a form of function overloading as Rhai does not support generics.
This is essentially function overloading (Rhai does not natively support generics).
```rust
use std::fmt::Display;
@ -672,6 +673,50 @@ fn to_int(num) {
print(to_int(123)); // what happens?
```
Operator overloading
--------------------
In Rhai, a lot of functionalities are actually implemented as functions, including basic operations such as arithmetic calculations.
For example, in the expression "`a + b`", the `+` operator is _not_ built-in, but calls a function named "`+`" instead!
```rust
let x = a + b;
let x = +(a, b); // <- the above is equivalent to this function call
```
Similarly, comparison operators including `==`, `!=` etc. are all implemented as functions, with the stark exception of `&&` and `||`.
Because they [_short-circuit_](#boolean-operators), `&&` and `||` are handled specially and _not_ via a function; as a result,
overriding them has no effect at all.
Operator functions cannot be defined as a script function (because operators syntax are not valid function names).
However, operator functions _can_ be registered to the [`Engine`] via `register_fn`, `register_result_fn` etc.
When a custom operator function is registered with the same name as an operator, it _overloads_ (or overrides) the built-in version.
```rust
use rhai::{Engine, EvalAltResult, RegisterFn};
let mut engine = Engine::new();
fn strange_add(a: i64, b: i64) -> i64 { (a + b) * 42 }
engine.register_fn("+", strange_add); // overload '+' operator for two integers!
let result: i64 = engine.eval("1 + 0"); // the overloading version is used
println!("result: {}", result); // prints 42
let result: f64 = engine.eval("1.0 + 0.0"); // '+' operator for two floats not overloaded
println!("result: {}", result); // prints 1.0
```
Use operator overloading for custom types (described below) only. Be very careful when overloading built-in operators because
script writers expect standard operators to behave in a consistent and predictable manner, and will be annoyed if a calculation
for '+' turns into a subtraction, for example.
Operator overloading also impacts script optimization when using [`OptimizationLevel::Full`].
See the [relevant section](#script-optimization) for more details.
Custom types and methods
-----------------------