Who`s Afraid to Be Const Correct? Reading Const Correctly in C++ - Right There Right Now
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Don’t be tempted to implement const-correctness at a later stage when you can do it right now. Making a parameter const in a function declaration can have a cascading effect. It is very likely for variables and objects to be passed on from function to function, and a stricter contract near the top of the call-stack can have deep-reaching consequences.
When you have these functions:
void foo(int &val) { bar(val); }
void bar(int &val) { g(val); }
void g(int &val) { … }
Changing the non-const reference parameter ‘val’ to a const reference will affect the other two functions as well. When you are in full production… it will only be the beginning of a long and painful code correction.
What better day to start than today. Delay will only make it more painful, and not doing it won’t help you write better code.
References [K&R] – Kernighan and Ritchie
“The C Programming Language” – ISBN 0131103628
[Meyers] – Scott Meyers
“Effective C++” – ISBN 0201924889
item 20 ‘Avoid data members in the public interface’
item 21 ‘Use const whenever possible’
[Sutter] – Herb Sutter
“Exceptional C++” - ISBN 0201615622
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