Question

I know the answer is 99.99% no, but I figured it was worth a try, you never know.

void SomeFunction(int a)
{
    // Here some processing happens on a, for example:
    a *= 50;
    a %= 10;
    if(example())
       a = 0;
    // From this point on I want to make "a" const; I don't want to allow
    // any code past this comment to modify it in any way.
}

I can do something somewhat similar with const int b = a;, but it’s not really the same and it creates a lot of confusion. A C++0x-only solution is acceptable.

EDIT: another less abstracted example, the one that made me ask this question:

void OpenFile(string path)
{
    boost::to_lower(path);
    // I want path to be constant now
    ifstream ...
}

EDIT: another concrete example: Recapture const-ness on variables in a parallel section.

Answer 1

One solution would be to factor all of the mutation code into a lambda expression. Do all of the mutation in the lambda expression and assign the result out to a const int in the method scope. For example

void SomeFunction(const int p1) { 
  auto calcA = [&]() {
    int a = p1;
    a *= 50;
    a %= 10;
    if(example())
       a = 0;
    ..
    return a;
  };
  const int a = calcA();
  ...
}

or even

void SomeFunction(const int p1) { 
  const int a = [&]() {
    int a = p1;
    a *= 50;
    a %= 10;
    if(example())
       a = 0;
    ..
    return a;
  }();
  ...
}