Does Java support operator overloading?

Question

i am working on a project that has an object called Vector2

public static class Vector2 {
        public Vector2 (float x, float y) {
            this.x = x;
            this.y = y;
        }

        public float x;
        public float y;

        public static Vector2 ZERO = new Vector2 (0, 0);
        public static Vector2 FORWARD = new Vector2 (0, 1);
        public static Vector2 LEFT = new Vector2 (1, 0);

        public static float Distance (Vector2 a, Vector2 b) {
            return (float) Math.sqrt(Math.pow(a.x - b.x, 2) + Math.pow(a.y - b.y, 2));
        }
    }

and would like to do the following:

Vector2 a = new Vector2 (2.32, 453.12);
Vector2 b = new Vector2 (35.32, 532.32);

Vector2 c = a * b;

// c.x = 2.32*35.32
// c.y = 453.12*532.32

float num = 5;
c = a * num;

// c.x = 2.32*5
// c.y = 453.12*5

Is this possible? If so how can I do it, and what is it called? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

No, Java does not support operator overloading.

As an FYI: if it's possible for you to work with other languages, then C++ and, the very Java like, C# do support operator overloading. If your project, for example Ray Tracing, has a lot of vector related operations, then I'd actually consider a language like C#.

Answer 2

Java does not allow operator overloading like languages such as C++. See this article. Make utility functions to accommodate what you want to accomplish.