C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

None 27. Prefer the canonical forms of arithmetic and assignment operators SummaryDiscussionExamplesExceptionsReferences...

If you a+b, also a+=b: When defining binary arithmetic operators, provide their assignment versions as well, and write to minimize duplication and maximize efficiency....

In general, for some binary operator @ (be it +, -, *, and so on), you should define its assignment version such that a @=...

Example: An implementation of += for strings. When concatenating strings, it is useful to know the length in advance so as to allocate memory only...

In some cases (e.g., operator*= on complex numbers), an operator might mutate its left-hand side so significantly that it can be more advantageous to implement...

[Alexandrescu03a] • [Cline99] § • [Meyers96] §22 • [Sutter00] §20...