title: What is an "operator int" function?
body: <p>What is the "operator int" function below? What does it do?</p>
  
  <pre><code>class INT
  {
     int a;
  
  public:
     INT(int ix = 0)
     {
        a = ix;
     }
  
     /* Starting here: */
     operator int()
     {
        return a;
     }
     /* End */
  
     INT operator ++(int)
     {
        return a++;
     }
  };
  </code></pre>