Why are the extraction and insertion operators always implemented as friends of the class rather than as members of the class?
A) Because the first parameter must be the stream object.
B) They don't, they could be members
C) Because they return a reference
D) Because the stream is passed by reference.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The extraction (>>) and insertion (<<) operators are implemented as friends rather than members because the first parameter for these operators must be the stream object (std::istream for extraction, std::ostream for insertion), not the object of the class they are meant to work with. This allows for the correct chaining of these operators in expressions.

Why Are the Extraction and Insertion Operators Always Implemented as Friends