Operator Overloading in PaperScript

I was looking into how paper.js did their operator overloading and what I found was pretty clever:

var operators = {
  '+': 'add',
  '-': 'subtract',
  '*': 'multiply',
  '/': 'divide',
  '%': 'modulo',
  '==': 'equals',
  '!=': 'equals'
};

function $eval(left, operator, right) {
  var handler = operators[operator];
  if (left && left[handler]) {
    var res = left[handler](right);
    return operator == '!=' ? !res : res;
  }
  switch (operator) {
  case '+': return left + right;
  case '-': return left - right;
  case '*': return left * right;
  case '/': return left / right;
  case '%': return left % right;
  case '==': return left == right;
  case '!=': return left != right;
  default:
    throw new Error('Implement Operator: ' + operator);
  }
};

Though technically this is PaperScript and not JavaScript, so they can get around the lack of native JS operator overloading. The PaperScript code is given a minimal compile pass which replaces calls to arithmetic operators with calls to $eval().

// PaperScript
var p = new Point(10, 20);
var r = p * 5;

// JavaScript
var p = new Point(10, 20);
var r = $eval(p, "*", 5);

Related PaperScript source

So as long as Point#multiply is defined then the operator is effectively overloaded.

I’m very interested in the implications for PixieEngine and CoffeeScript.

Author: Daniel X

Heretic priest of the Machine God. I enjoy crawling around in Jeff Bezo's spaceship, bringing technology to the people, and long walks outside of time and space. View all posts by Daniel X