Why do I get an error about the initializer not being a constant?

Question

I am using the following code.

const int X_ORIGIN = 1233086;             
const int Y_ORIGIN = -4728071;              
const int Z_ORIGIN = 4085704;
const in         


        

Answer 1

Often people are mislead by the naming of the keyword const, implying something of a constant value that can't be changed. In C at least, it means readonly. const qualified objects at file scope are not having the proper constness to serve as array initializers.

As an example for non-constant constness, it is perfectly ok to declare

 const volatile unsigned int milliseconds_since_boot;

being a value that gets updated from outside the compiler's control (think HW register) and that you are not allowed to assign to, i.e. it is readonly.