Linus on `const`

January 18th, 2008 in Programming

Linus rants about const:

“const” has never been about the thing not being modified. Forget all that claptrap. C does not have such a notion.

“const” is a pointer type issue, and is meant to make certain mis-uses more visible at compile time. It has no other meaning, and anybody who thinks it has is just setting himself up for problems.