Create an object whose state changes on assignment

C++

This is trivial using the right tools.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class Obj {
public:
   int state;

   Obj& operator= (Obj& foo) {
      foo.state++;
      this->state = foo.state - 2;
      return *this;
   }
};

int main() {
   Obj a, b, c, d;
   a.state = 3;
   b.state = 4;

   cout << a.state << " " << b.state << "\n";

   c = a;
   d = b;

   cout << a.state << " " << b.state << " " << c.state << " " << d.state << "\n";

   return 0;
}

Output:

3 4
4 5 2 3

PHP (debug build, >= 5.4)

We use refcount of the object in a getter. (So, by the assignment, refcount increases and value changes)

class State {
    public function __get($arg) {
        ob_start();
        debug_zval_dump($this); // e.g. "object(State)#1 (0) refcount(6)"
        return ob_get_clean()[29];
    }
}

$obj = new State;
var_dump($obj->state);
$a = $obj;
var_dump($obj->state);

C#

Two simple options:

class Obj
{
    public int state;
    public static implicit operator int(Obj o)
    {
        return o.state++;
    }
}

static int LValueI;
static Obj LValueM { set { value.state++; } }
static void Main()
{
    var obj = new Obj { state = 1 };
    LValueI = obj;
    Console.WriteLine(obj.state); //2, caused by the implicit cast.

    LValueM = obj;
    Console.WriteLine(obj.state); //3, caused by the property setter.
    Console.ReadLine();
}

Or we could simply write to the same memory:

[StructLayoutAttribute(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
class Program
{
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    int state = 1;
    [FieldOffset(1)]
    int LValue;

    void Test()
    {
        var obj = this;

        Console.WriteLine(state);  //1
        LValue = state;
        Console.WriteLine(state);  //257
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
    static void Main() { new Program().Test(); }
}