C++ member functions with same name and parameters, different return type

Question

is it valid if I define member functions with same name¶meters but different return types inside a class like this:

class Test {
public:
    int a;
          


        

Answer 1

To expand upon the previous answers and your given code with an example so you can actually tell what's being called when:

#include 

class Test {
public:
    int a;
    double b;
};

class Foo {
private:
    Test t;
public:
    inline Test &getTest() {
        std::cout << "Non const-refrence " << std::endl;
        return t;
    }
    inline const Test &getTest() const {
        std::cout << "Const-refrence " << std::endl;
        return t;
    }
};

int main() {
    Foo foo;
    Test& t1 = foo.getTest();
    const Test& t2 = foo.getTest();

    const Foo bar;
    const Test& t3 = bar.getTest();

    return 0;
}

With output:

Non const-refrence
Non const-refrence
Const-refrence

The const you see after the second getTest signature tells the compiler that no member variables will be modified as a result of calling this function.