MATLAB Object-Oriented Programming

Overload Functions in Class Definitions

In this section...

“Why Overload Functions” on page 9-34

“Implementing Overloaded MATLAB Functions” on page 9-34

“Rules for Naming to Avoid Conflicts” on page 9-36

Why Overload Functions

Classes can redefine MATLAB functions by implementing methods having the same name.

Overloading is useful when defining specialized types that you want to behave like

existing MATLAB types. For example, you can implement relational operations, plotting

functions, and other commonly used MATLAB functions to work with objects of your class.

You can also modify default behaviors by implementing specific functions that control

these behaviors. For more information on functions that modify default behaviors, see

“Methods That Modify Default Behavior” on page 17-2.

Implementing Overloaded MATLAB Functions

Class methods can provide implementations of MATLAB functions that operate only on

instances of the class. This restriction is possible because MATLAB can always identify to

which class an object belongs.

MATLAB uses the dominant argument to determine which version of a function to call. If

the dominant argument is an object, then MATLAB calls the method defined by the

object's class, if one exists.

In cases where a class defines a method with the same name as a global function, the

class's implementation of the function is said to overload the original global

implementation.

To overload a MATLAB function:

• Define a method with the same name as the function you want to overload.


• Ensure that the method argument list accepts an object of the class, which MATLAB
  uses to determine which version to call.

9 Methods — Defining Class Operations