as we all know the usage of const_cast to remove the const-ness of a pointer should be avoided.
But how is it about the other way around?
For my use case I have a function that copies data (bytes) from a non-const source buffer. I thought a good design decision would be to declare the parameter according to that source buffer fully const.
void copyfunction(const char* const data) { ... }
For a function call like below this would lead to a pointer-type error 'const char* const <-> char*'.
void main() {
char sourcebuffer[] = {0x00};
copyfunction(sourcebuffer);
}
Sure, now I could simply declare the sourcebuffer
as const but in my case I don't have access to that variable because it's from a different code location (external library).
void main() {
char sourcebuffer[] = {0x00};
copyfunction(const_cast<const char* const>(sourcebuffer));
}
However the code beyond would work but is it good style (according to my use case)?
I thought declaring the parameter of the copyfunction
as const assures the user of not modifying (read-only) the pointer or the location of the source buffer itself.
So in this case the const_cast would only be a necessary evil to enable to function call and not willfully remove the const-ness of a pointer...
Greets