Return type of operator = in C++

Question

I just have a clarification to make. Say for example I want to override the operator =. From what I've read, this should return a REFERENCE to the object. And as what I've read from another source, a Reference is just an alternate name to the object. So could I do this?

MyObject MyObject::operator =(const MyObject &o2) {
    //insert processing code here
    return *this;
}

rather than this?

MyObject& MyObject::operator =(const MyObject &o2) {
    //insert processing code here
    return *this;
}

Answer 1

In the first case, you return a copy of *this , not a reference to *this . So you should stick to the second case. There is a big difference between those 2 cases, especially for types that are "expensive" to copy.