Skip to main content

const/volatile integrity violation

This time I am going to point you at two short, interesting articles on const integrity violation which is also applicable to volatile modifier.

Basically it talks about the following feature of C++:

GIVEN
int *i;

const int *p = i; // is allowed
BUT
const int** p = &i; // is not allowed !!
AND
const int*& p = i; // is also not allowed !!

How to fix it?

GIVEN
int *i;

const int *p = i; // is allowed
BUT
const int* const * p = &i; // is allowed !!
AND
const int* const & p = i; // is also allowed !!


FAQ:
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/const-correctness.html#faq-18.17
AND
http://www.gimpel.com/html/bugs/bug1561.htm

Comments

Popular Content

Want speed? Use constexpr meta-programming!

It's official: C++11 has two meta-programming languages embedded in it! One is based on templates and other one using constexpr . Templates have been extensively used for meta-programming in C++03. C++11 now gives you one more option of writing compile-time meta-programs using constexpr . The capabilities differ, however. The meta-programming language that uses templates was discovered accidently and since then countless techniques have been developed. It is a pure functional language which allows you to manipulate compile-time integral literals and types but not floating point literals. Most people find the syntax of template meta-programming quite abominable because meta-functions must be implemented as structures and nested typedefs. Compile-time performance is also a pain point for this language feature. The generalized constant expressions (constexpr for short) feature allows C++11 compiler to peek into the implementation of a function (even classes) and perform optimization...

Multi-dimensional arrays in C++11

What new can be said about multi-dimensional arrays in C++? As it turns out, quite a bit! With the advent of C++11, we get new standard library class std::array. We also get new language features, such as template aliases and variadic templates. So I'll talk about interesting ways in which they come together. It all started with a simple question of how to define a multi-dimensional std::array. It is a great example of deceptively simple things. Are the following the two arrays identical except that one is native and the other one is std::array? int native[3][4]; std::array<std::array<int, 3>, 4> arr; No! They are not. In fact, arr is more like an int[4][3]. Note the difference in the array subscripts. The native array is an array of 3 elements where every element is itself an array of 4 integers. 3 rows and 4 columns. If you want a std::array with the same layout, what you really need is: std::array<std::array<int, 4>, 3> arr; That's quite annoying for...

Rvalue references in constructor: when less is more

I've seen a recurring mistake made by well-versed C++03 programmers when they set out to use rvalue references for the first time. In fact, as it turns out, better you are at C++03, easier it is to fall in the trap of rvalue reference anti-pattern I'm gonna talk about. Consider the following C++03 class: class Book { public: Book(const std::string & title, const std::vector<std::string> & authors, const std::string & pub, size_t pub_day const std::string & pub_month, size_t pub_year) : _title(title), _authors(authors), _publisher(pub), _pub_day(pub_day), _pub_month(pub_month), _pub_year(pub_year) {} // .... // .... private: std::string _title; std::vector<std::string> _authors; std::string _publisher; size_t _pub_day; std::string _pub_month; size_t _pub_year; }; The Book class above is as dull as it can be. Now lets C++11'fy it!...