What if a and b are numbers? What if they're matrices? What if they're quaternions -- or higher? What if they're finite fields? Additive groups? Points on an el

What if a and b are numbers? What if they're matrices? What if they're quaternions -- or higher? What if they're finite fields? Additive groups? Points on an elliptic curve? Random variables? Operators (+ - * / ^ & | ¬) come from mathematics. While I'm sure there are plenty of node jockeys who have little use for numbers outside of specifying ports, there are still plenty of us for whom operator overloading is a necessary good.