Why can const int& bind to an int?

Question

In the C++ primer, I found that const int & can bind with a int object.I don\'t understand that,because I think const int & should bind with a

Answer 1

There are two things: Const and reference.

Reference is just another name for same memory unit. You can use any name to change the value held at that memory.

A const reference is denoted in C++ by a code like

int j =2; 
int const &i = j; //or Alternatively
const int &i = j;

There is no restriction which makes the referred object to be constant as well.

Here, you can not use i to change value of j. However this does not make the memory location j to be constant.You can peacefully change the value of j.

j =3
//but i = 3 will raise an error saying 
//assignment of read-only reference ‘i’