Why does operator<< not work with something returned by operator-?

Question

Here's a small test program I wrote:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class A {

    public:
    int val;

    A(int _val=0):val(_val) { }

    A operator+(A &a) { return A(val + a.val); }
    A operator-(A &a) { return A(val - a.val); }

    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream &, A &);

};

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, A &a) {
    out<<a.val;
    return out;
}

int main() {
    A a(3), b(4), c = b - a;
    cout<<c<<endl; // this works
    cout<<(b-a)<<endl; // this doesn't
    return 0;
}

I can't seem to get why the line marked "this works" works and the one marked "this doesn't" doesn't. When I try to compile the program with the cout<<(b-a); line, here's what I get:

[felix@the-machine C]$ g++ test.cpp 

test.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
test.cpp:26:13: error: no match for ‘operator<<’ in ‘std::cout << b.A::operator-(((A&)(& a)))’
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:108:7: note: candidates are: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& (*)(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:117:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ios_type& (*)(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ios_type&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ios_type = std::basic_ios<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:127:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::ios_base& (*)(std::ios_base&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:165:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:169:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:173:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(bool) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/bits/ostream.tcc:91:5: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:180:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/bits/ostream.tcc:105:5: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:191:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:200:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:204:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:209:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:213:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(float) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:221:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/ostream:225:7: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(const void*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__ostream_type = std::basic_ostream<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.0/../../../../include/c++/4.5.0/bits/ostream.tcc:119:5: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__streambuf_type*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::__streambuf_type = std::basic_streambuf<char>]
test.cpp:18:11: note:                 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, A&)
[felix@the-machine C]$

Quite nasty.

Answer 1

Because you are not allowing temporaries to be passed to your insertion operator. Change it to:

friend ostream& operator<<(ostream &, const A &);
...
ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, const A &a) {
    out<<a.val;
    return out;
}

Answer 2

Your operator+ returns a temporary object - and in C++ you can't bind temporaries to non-const references. You want:

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, const A &a) {

This is the canonical way to write opertaor<< for streaming - the thing being output should always be passed as a const reference.

Answer 3

in the second line,you're asking the compiler to convert from A to A&, but A is a temporary, and that is non-standard behaviour. In the first line c is not temporary so it works. Changing your operator to

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, const A &a)

will not only be more correct, but should also be accepted by the compiler.

Answer 4

You're passing a temporary object to operator<<, so it needs to take a const A&.

std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, const A&)

A few other notes:

Always use 'const T&' when passing non-primitive arguments that are not modified. This allows you to pass temporaries, and indicates that you don't change the parameter.

It's best to mark single argument constructors explicit, this prevents you from making accidental temporary objects everywhere, killing your performance.

explicit A(int _val=0):val(_val) { }

Answer 5

A temporary object is basically considered const, so for a reference to bind to it, it has to be a reference to const:

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, A const &a) // ...

Answer 6

The std::basic_ostream::operator<< expects const-qualified argument in your use case. Thus, you need to correct the signature of your operator as follows:

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out, A const& a)

By the way, the friendship is redundant because A::val is public, thus accessible anyway.