Article View: comp.std.c++
Article #850Responses to ~const 1.6: Name change
From: Tom Ngo
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 1991 16:42
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 1991 16:42
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1528 bytes
Background information to this posting was in a very recent summary.
Rahul Dhesi <dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.atc.olivetti.com> suggested that
!const might be more natural than ~const. Here are two reasons I
originally chose "~const" instead of "!const":
1. !const seems to connote that the specified member is merely "not
const". The semantics of my proposal call for a more active
*overriding* of constness that would otherwise be taken on by
virtue of membership in an enclosing structure. I feel that this
meaning is more closely suggested by ~const ("destroy
constness"?).
2. People are used to seeing ~ in declarations (as in destructors),
whereas the idea of seeing ! is more foreign.
This is one of those important but difficult-to-debate aesthetic
issues. !const does seem like a good alternative. I could go either
way, but I lean toward ~const.
Comments?
--
Tom Ngo
ngo@harvard.harvard.edu
617/495-1768 lab number, leave message
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!hsdndev!husc6!ngo From: ngo@tammy.harvard.edu (Tom Ngo) Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Subject: Responses to ~const 1.6: Name change Message-ID: <NGO.91Feb19114236@tammy.harvard.edu> Date: 19 Feb 91 16:42:36 GMT Sender: news@husc6.harvard.edu Distribution: comp Organization: Harvard Chemistry Department Lines: 26