const to Non-const Conversion in C++

Question

I\'m really annoyed by const keyword these days, as I\'m not quite familiar with it. I had a vector that stores all const pointers like vector

Answer 1

You can assign a const object to a non-const object just fine. Because you're copying and thus creating a new object, constness is not violated.

Like so:

int main() {
   const int a = 3;
   int b = a;
}

It's different if you want to obtain a pointer or reference to the original, const object:

int main() {
   const int a = 3;
   int& b = a;       // or int* b = &a;
}

//  error: invalid initialization of reference of type 'int&' from
//         expression of type 'const int'

You can use const_cast to hack around the type safety if you really must, but recall that you're doing exactly that: getting rid of the type safety. It's still undefined to modify a through b in the below example:

int main() {
   const int a = 3;
   int& b = const_cast(a);

   b = 3;
}

Although it compiles without errors, anything can happen including opening a black hole or transferring all your hard-earned savings into my bank account.

If you have arrived at what you think is a requirement to do this, I'd urgently revisit your design because something is very wrong with it.