Is there a workaround for overloading the assignment operator in C#?

Question

Unlike C++, in C# you can\'t overload the assignment operator.

I\'m doing a custom Number class for arithmetic operations with very large numbers and I want it to h

Answer 1

You won't be able to work around it having the C++ look, since a = b; has other semantics in C++ than in C#. In C#, a = b; makes a point to the same object like b. In C++, a = b changes the content of a. Both has their ups and downs. It's like you do

MyType * a = new MyType();
MyType * b = new MyType(); 
a = b; /* only exchange pointers. will not change any content */

In C++ (it will lose the reference to the first object, and create a memory leak. But let's ignore that here). You cannot overload the assign operator in C++ for that either.

The workaround is easy:

MyType a = new MyType();
MyType b = new MyType();

// instead of a = b
a.Assign(b);

Disclaimer: I'm not a C# developer

You could create a write-only-property like this. then do a.Self = b; above.

public MyType Self {
    set {
        /* copy content of value to this */
        this.Assign(value);
    }
}

Now, this is not good. Since it violates the principle-of-least-surprise (POLS). One wouldn't expect a to change if one does a.Self = b;