Not only can we overload operators such as + and ++ in our own user-defined classes, we can also overload typecasting functions such float() and int() to convert our own classes into basic types (for example, for turning a custom String class into a character array). This is very similar to the other operator overloaders we have seen.

class Burrito {
  private:
    int amtbeef, amtbean;
  public:
    Burrito(int newbeef, int newbean) {
      amtbeef = newbeef;
      amtbean = newbean;
    }
    operator int() {
      return (amtbeef + amtbean);
    }
};

The above class contains an int() operator, which we can use similarly to any other type cast, such as:

void main(void) {
  Burrito b1(10,6);
  int i1 = int(b1);

  cout << i1 << endl;
}

That short example would print out the number 16, and demonstrates how to use operator overloading to convert a user-defined class to a basic type. To go the other way (from a basic-type to a user defined class), you simply use a constructor, like we saw when learning about constructors.