Question

I have a problem with 2 member functions from which one is const returning a const:

const BoardNode & Board::getBoardNode(unsigned int rowIdx, unsigned int colIdx) const
{
    return _mData[rowIdx*_mNumColumns + colIdx];
}

BoardNode & Board::getBoardNode(unsigned int rowIdx, unsigned int colIdx)
{
    return _mData[rowIdx*_mNumColumns + colIdx];
}

After a while I use the code :

// where this is a Board holding Nodes in std::vector
BoardNode nodeToAddAsNeighbor   = this->getBoardNode(x1+ x, y1+ y);

Whatever the values of y1, y, x, x1 are, I always return the node with coords (0,0).

Nevertheless other parameters of the node are different only the coords are as mentioned above.

Any idea why ?

EDIT
My copy contructor :

BoardNode::BoardNode(const BoardNode & other) :
    _mNodeType(other._mNodeType),
    _coordinates( other._coordinates ),
    _neighboursVector( other._neighboursVector) {}

Answer 1

BoardNode nodeToAddAsNeighbor = ....;

invokes the copy constructor. Is it defined? How is it defined? Perhaps it doesn’t work as advertised. E.g.

struct A
{
    int i;
    A(int i)    : i(i)  {}
    A(A const&) : i(42) {}
};

Obviously with

A a(7);
A b = a;

You can not expect b.i to contain 7, but rather it will contain 42