Why is a public const method not called when the non-const one is private?

Question

Consider this code:

struct A
{
    void foo() const
    {
        std::cout << \"const\" << std::endl;
    }

    private:

        void foo()
           


        

Answer 1

Since the implicit this pointer is non-const, the compiler will first check for the presence of a non-const version of the function before a const version.

If you explicitly mark the non-const one private then the resolution will fail, and the compiler will not continue searching.