Why is std::is_const::value 'false' even though T's value_type is const?

Question

#include 

struct foo;
int main()
{
    const foo *bar;

    static_assert(std::is_const::value,
                  \"expected co         


        

Answer 1

Shortly that's because a reference or a pointer to a const type is not a const type.
Note that decltype(*bar) isn't const foo, it's const foo & and they are really different beasts.

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Consider the example given here:

std::cout << std::is_const::value << '\n'; // false
std::cout << std::is_const::value << '\n'; // true

We see that std::is_const::value is false and std::is_const::value is true.
That's because in const int * the type is pointer to something const, that is not a const type as intended by is_const (and the standard actually). In int * const the const qualifier applies to the pointer type and not to the pointed one, thus the type is a const one, no matter to what it points.
Something similar applies for const foo &, that is a reference to something const.

You can solve using this instead:

static_assert(std::is_const>::value, "expected const but this is non-const!");

Or even this, for you don't need to do *bar actually:

static_assert(std::is_const>::value, "expected const but this is non-const!");

In this case, by removing the pointer/reference with remove_pointer_t/remove_reference_t your type becomes const foo, that is actually a const type.

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As a side note, the example above uses the C++14-ish std::remove_reference_t and std::remove_pointer_t type traits.
You can easily turn those lines of code to C++11 as it follows:

static_assert(std::is_const:: type>::value, "expected const but this is non-const!");

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It's worth mentioning a few comments to the answer to give more details:

• Thanks to @DanielFischer for the question:

  Is there a short explanation why decltype(*bar) is const foo& rather than const foo?

  I'm not a language-lawyer, but I guess it can be deduced from [expr.unary.op]/1 (emphasis mine):

  The unary * operator performs indirection: the expression to which it is applied shall be a pointer to an object type, or a pointer to a function type and the result is an lvalue referring to the object or function to which the expression points.

  And [dcl.type.simple]/4.4 (emphasis mine):

  otherwise, if e is an lvalue, decltype(e) is T&, where T is the type of e;

  Both referring to the working draft.

• Thanks to @LightnessRacesInOrbit for the comment. Note that decltype(*bar) being const foo & is a funny C++ quirk of decltype, since *bar is not const foo &.