Re: Reference is not a member of class?

Oleg wrote:

  > This code compiles on Test Drive Comeau C++ Online and on VC 7.1. So,
  > I assume that it is standard compliant. but why it is allowed to
  > modify non-const reference in const method?
  >
  > class test
  > {
  > public :
  > test(int& i) :
  > m_i(i) {}
  >
  > void f() const
  > {
  > m_i = 0;
  > }
  >
  > private :
  > int& m_i;
  > };
  >
  >
  > int main()
  > {
  > int i = 1;
  > const test t(i);
  > t.f(); // set i to 0
  > }

Because const in C++ is shallow, i.e. it does not propagate
automatically across levels of indirection. If m_i were a pointer, you
could modify the int being pointed to, but you could not reset the
pointer in test::f(). References cannot be reseated anyway, so the
constness of the containing object is redundant in this case.

--
Gerhard Menzl

#dogma int main ()

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