Question

I’m learning C++ and I’ve came across this and I don’t understand this small thing. Why is the GetName() function a pointer of type character and why is it constant?

class Derived: public Base
{
public:
    Derived(int nValue)
        : Base(nValue)
    {
    }

    const char* GetName() { return "Derived"; }
    int GetValueDoubled() { return m_nValue * 2; }
};

Answer 1

"Derived" is a string literal (look it up). If you attempt to modify a string literal, you get undefined behaviour, so the return type is marked const so you don’t accidentally modify it.