Programming Microsoft® Visual C#® 2008: The Language

Operator Overloading Internals

Internally, Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) does not support operator methods. For that reason, the C# compiler converts operator methods into normal functions. Figure 9-2 presents a view of the Summation class discussed in the previous section. Instead of operator methods, there are functions such as op_Addition and op_Explicit.

Figure 9-2. A view of the Summation class

In Table 9-1, the functions that the C# compiler substitutes for mathematical and logical operators are listed.

Table 9-1. Replacement methods for mathematical and logical operators

Operator	Replacement method
operator+	op_Addition
operator-	op_Subtraction ...