Use of 'const' for function parameters

Question

How far do you go with const? Do you just make functions const when necessary or do you go the whole hog and use it everywhere? For example, imag

Answer 1

I know the question is "a bit" outdated but as I came accross it somebody else may also do so in future... ...still I doubt the poor fellow will list down here to read my comment :)

It seems to me that we are still too confined to C-style way of thinking. In the OOP paradigma we play around with objects, not types. Const object may be conceptually different from a non-const object, specifically in the sense of logical-const (in contrast to bitwise-const). Thus even if const correctness of function params is (perhaps) an over-carefulness in case of PODs it is not so in case of objects. If a function works with a const object it should say so. Consider the following code snippet

#include 

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
class SharedBuffer {
private:

  int fakeData;

  int const & Get_(int i) const
  {

    std::cout << "Accessing buffer element" << std::endl;
    return fakeData;

  }

public:

  int & operator[](int i)
  {

    Unique();
    return const_cast(Get_(i));

  }

  int const & operator[](int i) const
  {

    return Get_(i);

  }

  void Unique()
  {

    std::cout << "Making buffer unique (expensive operation)" << std::endl;

  }

};

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
void NonConstF(SharedBuffer x)
{

  x[0] = 1;

}

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
void ConstF(const SharedBuffer x)
{

  int q = x[0];

}

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
int main()
{

  SharedBuffer x;

  NonConstF(x);

  std::cout << std::endl;

  ConstF(x);

  return 0;

}

ps.: you may argue that (const) reference would be more appropriate here and gives you the same behaviour. Well, right. Just giving a different picture from what I could see elsewhere...