diff --git a/base/linalg.jl b/base/linalg.jl
index 89cd6da2c60ed..dd3da4e0f69a5 100644
--- a/base/linalg.jl
+++ b/base/linalg.jl
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ include("linalg/diagonal.jl")
 include("linalg/bidiag.jl")
 include("linalg/rectfullpacked.jl")
 include("linalg/givens.jl")
-
+include("linalg/special.jl")
 include("linalg/bitarray.jl")
 
 include("linalg/sparse.jl")
diff --git a/base/linalg/diagonal.jl b/base/linalg/diagonal.jl
index 87a9d18672c74..02ed30e91bb7c 100644
--- a/base/linalg/diagonal.jl
+++ b/base/linalg/diagonal.jl
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ isposdef(D::Diagonal) = all(D.diag .> 0)
 
 +(Da::Diagonal, Db::Diagonal) = Diagonal(Da.diag + Db.diag)
 -(Da::Diagonal, Db::Diagonal) = Diagonal(Da.diag - Db.diag)
--{T}(D::Diagonal{T}, M::AbstractMatrix{T}) = full(D) - M
--{T}(M::AbstractMatrix{T}, D::Diagonal{T}) = M - full(D)
 
 *{T<:Number}(x::T, D::Diagonal) = Diagonal(x * D.diag)
 *{T<:Number}(D::Diagonal, x::T) = Diagonal(D.diag * x)
diff --git a/base/linalg/special.jl b/base/linalg/special.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4a0b62a127a02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/linalg/special.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#Methods operating on different special matrix types
+
+#Constructs two method definitions taking into account (assumed) commutativity
+# e.g. @commutative f{S,T}(x::S, y::T) = x+y is the same is defining
+#     f{S,T}(x::S, y::T) = x+y
+#     f{S,T}(y::T, x::S) = f(x, y)
+macro commutative(myexpr)
+    @assert myexpr.head===:(=) || myexpr.head===:function #Make sure it is a function definition
+    y = copy(myexpr.args[1].args[2:end])
+    reverse!(y)
+    reversed_call = Expr(:(=), Expr(:call,myexpr.args[1].args[1],y...), myexpr.args[1])
+    esc(Expr(:block, myexpr, reversed_call))
+end
+
+for op in (:+, :-)
+    #matrixtype1 is the sparser matrix type
+    for (idx, matrixtype1) in enumerate([:Diagonal, :Bidiagonal, :Tridiagonal, :Triangular, :Matrix])
+        #matrixtype2 is the denser matrix type
+        for matrixtype2 in [:Diagonal, :Bidiagonal, :Tridiagonal, :Triangular, :Matrix][idx+1:end]
+            @eval begin #TODO quite a few of these conversions are NOT defined...
+                ($op)(A::($matrixtype1), B::($matrixtype2)) = ($op)(convert(($matrixtype2), A), B)
+                ($op)(A::($matrixtype2), B::($matrixtype1)) = ($op)(A, convert(($matrixtype2), B))
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    #matrixtype1 is the sparser matrix type
+    for (idx, matrixtype1) in enumerate([:SymTridiagonal])
+        #matrixtype2 is the denser matrix type
+        for matrixtype2 in [:Tridiagonal, :Triangular, :Matrix][idx+1:end]
+            @eval begin
+                ($op)(A::($matrixtype1), B::($matrixtype2)) = ($op)(convert(($matrixtype2), A), B)
+                ($op)(A::($matrixtype2), B::($matrixtype1)) = ($op)(A, convert(($matrixtype2), B))
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
+