Has anyone found the need to declare the return parameter of a copy assignment operator const?

Question

The copy assignment operator has the usual signature:

    my_class & operator = (my_class const & rhs);

Does the following signatur

Answer 1

Yes, it should be const. Otherwise clients can do this:

class MyClass
{
public:
      MyClass & operator = (MyClass const & rhs);
}

void Foo() {
    MyClass a, b, c;
    (a = b) = c; //Yikes!
}