Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!paul.rutgers.edu!carroll
From: carroll@paul.rutgers.edu (V. I. Lenin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: const and caching
Message-ID: <Nov.29.10.31.47.1989.4938@paul.rutgers.edu>
Date: 29 Nov 89 15:31:47 GMT
References: <4289@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM> <3053@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 17

To reiterate Ed's point (not because I have anything new to add, but
merely because a good point deserves to be said several times in
several different ways):

	To C++, "const" means "concrete state const-ness."

	To the programmer, "const" should be used to mean
	"abstract state const-ness."

This is of course reasonable, since the compiler has no way of
knowing what you intend the abstract state of your objects to be.
What this means in practice is that C++'s understanding of "const"
is only a tool to be used by the programmer to implement the intended,
abstract meaning of "const."  This usually amounts to adding a few
casts here and there.

martin