const int *p vs. int const *p - Is const after the type acceptable?

Question

My co-worker is 0 for 2 on questions he has inspired (1, 2), so I thought I\'d give him a chance to catch up.

Our latest disagreement is over the style issue of wher

Answer 1

I agree with both of you. You should put the const after the type. I also find looking at it an abomination that must be destroyed. But my recent foray into the wonders of const value parameters has made me understand why putting the const second makes sense.

int *
int const *
int * const
int const * const

Just looking at that has the hairs on my neck standing. I'm sure it would confuse my co-workers.

EDIT: I was just wondering about using this in classes:

class Foo {
    Bar* const bar;
    Foo(const Foo&) = delete; // would cause too many headaches
public:
    Foo() : bar(new Bar) {}
    ~Foo() { delete bar; }
};

bar in this example is functionally equivalent to Bar& but it is on the heap and can be deleted. For the lifetime of each Foo, there will be a single Bar associated with it.