[fpc-devel] Generic class comparison operators

[Ryan Joseph]

> On Apr 18, 2021, at 1:37 AM, Sven Barth <pascaldragon at googlemail.com> wrote:
> 
> It has been decided back when operator overloads were introduced that they do not replace existing, built in operators. This decision still stands. And we see no reason to change that. This way a user can *rely* on what a certain operator means based on the language reference guide. This is more important than some convenience for certain use cases. 
> 

We still have some inconsistencies though because of the many other comparison operators which can already be overloaded but simply lack a class operator syntax and thus are not available to classes.

// impossible overload
operator = (left: TObject; right: TObject): boolean;

// possible overload
operator = (left: TObject; right: integer): boolean;

// possible overload
operator < (left: TObject; right: TObject): boolean;

In fact other binary operators that don't have side effects (i.e. don't return the class type) are safe and could be allowed in generic classes also.

// only way to overload + for TSomeClass<T>
operator + (left, right: TSomeClass<T>): String;

So it's really just about a number of inconsistencies with classes and that's why I wanted to fix it. Same with Objects as Benito has just pointed out again.

Regards,
	Ryan Joseph