C++ Operator Overloading Pictures: Abusing Operator Overloading

Question

I remember finding a piece of code online that completely abused operator overloading in C++ in order to draw pictures, something like:

int size = (I----I
            |    |
            I----I).area(); //returns 4

or

int v = (  o----o
          /    /1
         I----I |
         |    | 1
         I----I/ ).volume();

(The code here probably wouldn't compile, but the code was similar to here.)

Does anyone know where this website was? I'm looking all over the internet but can't find it. :(

Answer 1

They are called "Multi-Dimensional Analog Literals". I haven't actually tried them out, but the page claims that the code in fact conforms to standard C++. If that's the case, then it will probably compile and work.

While impressive, if I catch someone using them in production code I will (metaphorically!) beat them with a clue-stick. >:-)

Answer 2

I haven't seen this particular bit of code before, but it sure looks like something that you might find in The International Obfuscated C Code Contest (http://www.ioccc.org/).