Why can '=' not be overloaded in C#?

Question

I was wondering, why can\'t I overload \'=\' in C#? Can I get a better explanation?

Answer 1

If you overloaded '=' you would never be able to change an object reference after it's been created. ... think about it - any call to theObjectWithOverloadedOperator=something inside the overloaded operator would result in another call to the overloaded operator... so what would the overloaded operator really be doing ? Maybe setting some other properties - or setting the value to a new object (immutability) ? Generally not what '=' implies..

You can, however, override the implicit & explicit cast operators: http://www.blackwasp.co.uk/CSharpConversionOverload.aspx