No Operator Overloading: Concept Explained

Concept

In short: C++ can overload operators for custom types; SystemVerilog cannot. Verification code must expose named methods like add(), equals(), compare(), and hash().

Operator overloading makes domain objects feel native in C++, because expressions like a + b or lhs == rhs call user-defined methods. That can improve readability for math-like abstractions and value objects.

SystemVerilog does not allow user-defined operator overloading for classes. You cannot define custom semantics for +, ==, <, or similar operators on object handles. Handle equality stays handle identity unless you explicitly compare fields.

The idiomatic workaround is explicit method APIs: equals() for semantic equality, compare() for ordering, add()/merge() for composition, and key()/hash() for associative data structures.

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