Re: Do you usually to pass a reference to set (or other stl container) as const

From:
"Bo Persson" <bop@gmb.dk>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:21:10 +0200
Message-ID:
<6h5th2Fjeof7U1@mid.individual.net>
Jorgen Grahn wrote:

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:37:46 GMT, Juha Nieminen
<nospam@thanks.invalid> wrote:

puzzlecracker wrote:

I think void f(const int i) is plainly stupid....


  Why? It documents that the parameter is not modified in the
program,


Yes, but callers couldn't care less -- which is why C++ allows this:

void f(int i); // interface

void f(const int i) // implementation, locks down 'i'
{ ... }

and additionally makes the compiler tell you if you break the
promise nevertheless. If it was not your intention to modify the
parameter (even though it's just a local copy), the compiler error
can hint you at your mistake.


Yes, I use that a lot, if the function is messy enough.
It can be useful to know that 'i' still has the same value
two pages down in the code ...


Yes, I use that as well occationally, even though it is a confession
that the code is not really good enough.

The real solution is, of course, not to have two pages of code in the
function. :-)

Bo Persson

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