[Python-Dev] Opinions on const-correctness?

[Guido van Rossum]

> When you interface const-correct C or C++ code with Python, you
> currently need to jump through hoops like this:
> 
> somefunc(const char* modulename, const char* key)
> {
>     ... PyImport_ImportModule(const_cast<char*>(modulename)) ...
> 
> 
> I'd be willing to invest some time to change this, the question is:
> 
>  1. someone opposed to such a change?
> 
>  2. any technical reasons against it (const is ANSI, do we have a
> portability problem that cannot be solved by a #define)?
> 
> The largest negative effect I can see is that it'll add some turbulence
> to the CVS log (many little changes).

-1.

I've never tried to enforce const-correctness before, but I've heard
enough horror stories about this.  The problem is that it breaks 3rd
party extensions left and right, and fixing those isn't always easy.
In general, whenever you add a const somewhere, it ends up propagating
to some other API, which then also requires a const, which propagates
to yet another API needing a const, ad infinitum.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)