Question

Possible Duplicate:
C++ 'mutable' keyword

class student {

   mutable int rno;

   public:
     student(int r) {
         rno = r;
     }
     void getdata() const {
         rno = 90;
     } 
}; 

Answer 1

It allows you to write (i.e. “mutate”) to the rno member through a student member function even if used with a const object of type student.

class A {
   mutable int x;
   int y;

   public:
     void f1() {
       // "this" has type `A*`
       x = 1; // okay
       y = 1; // okay
     }
     void f2() const {
       // "this" has type `A const*`
       x = 1; // okay
       y = 1; // illegal, because f2 is const
     }
};