A min= idiom in C++?

Question

We use

x += y

instead of

x = x + y

And similarly for *,/,- and other operators. Well, what about

Answer 1

You can't extend the language in this way. The closest you can come is something like:

template 
T&
mineq( T& lhs, U rhs )
{
    if ( rhs < lhs ) {
        lhs = rhs;
    }
    return lhs;
}

This would allow writing:

mineq( x, y );

I question whether it's worth the bother, however.