Re: [ft-devel] Re: const problems

[Steve Hartwell]

on 6/7/2005 12:57 AM Turner, David wrote:

> Contrary to popular advice, putting "const" everywhere is
> _not_ important. It's just semantic sugar, and a hint to
> developers that can also be placed in the documentation of
> a given function. Of course we'd all be better if it was
> there in the first place, but they have strictly no impact
> on performance or portability.
>  
I'm sorry to find a reason to contradict you, but I don't think that 
Werner is proposing to put const "everywhere", just the places where the 
contract of not modifying the contents of parameters passed as pointers 
makes sense, such as in outline callbacks.

If you're worried that this will disrupt the current minor release API, 
please note that Werner has already reverted the recent changes, and is 
now seeking a nondisruptive solution leading to the next major release.

I can't believe I'm pleading the case of simple const declarations to a 
man who describes himself as "a bit anal on API abstraction".

Steve Hartwell
http://stevehartwell.home.comcast.net/proj/fontinspector