Question

Possible Duplicate:
“static const” vs “#define” in c

In C are symbolic constants defined at compile time or runtime?

Whats the difference between symbolic constant:

#define GOKU 9111

vs const variables

int const GOKU = 9111;

Answer 1

A define is simply a text replacement. A const is read-only memory. For instance, you can’t say &GOKU if it’s a define.

EDIT

I forgot about type checking and scoping. Using const is sometimes better than using a define since the compiler can check the types if you involve the constant in an operation. Also const obeys scopes so it won’t pollute your namespace.