Function Overloading (pages 908-911)
A program can contain multiple functions with the same name!
EX:
void Print ( int data );
void Print ( string data );
You’ll do this when the algorithm is the same, but the type(s) of the parameters are different.
Rules:
The computer can only distinguish functions with different types or number of arguments . The
number and/or type of parameters expected by the function must be unique for each overloaded
function. The return type is not considered when selecting the appropriate overloaded function.
EX: //this is NOT okay
int Calculate( int data );
float Calculate ( int data );
//this is okay
int Calculate (int data);
int Calculate (int data1, int data2);
int Calculate (float data);
Using in a program
Overloading functions is appropriate when all of the functions use the same algorithm, but should be
called in different scenarios based on their expected input.
int main( ) {
void DebugPrint (int data); //function prototypes
void DebugPrint (string data);
void DebugPrint (float data);
int value; //variable declarations
float average;
string name;
… //program statements to assign values to value, average, name, letter and isOk
DebugPrint(value);
Debug Print(average);
DebugPrint(name);
… //rest of the program
return 0;
}
void DebugPrint(int data) {
cout << “Debugging “ << data << endl;
}
void DebugPrint(float data) {
cout << “Debugging “ << data << endl;
}
void DebugPrint(string data) {
cout << “Debugging “ << data << endl;
}
