Question

See the code below – I am trying to put a const object into a vector. I know the answer is “STL containers require objects to be assignable and copy constructable”, but, without citing the standard, can anyone explain what the problem with doing this is? I don’t understand why a class like this could not be copied (besides that c++ doesn’t allow it).

All it is is a value stored that is not allowed to be changed – why can’t putting it in a vector simply create another one of these objects?

#include <vector>

// Attempt 1
// /home/doriad/Test/Test.cxx:3:8: error: non-static const member ‘const int MyClass::x’, can’t use default assignment operator

// struct MyClass
// {
//   int const x;
//   MyClass(int x): x(x) {}
// };
// 
// int main()
// {
//   std::vector<MyClass> vec;
//   vec.push_back(MyClass(3));
//   return 0;
// }

// Attempt 2
// /home/doriad/Test/Test.cxx:28:23: error: assignment of read-only member ‘MyClass::x’
struct MyClass
{
  int const x;
  MyClass(int x): x(x) {}
  MyClass& operator= (const MyClass& other)
  {
    if (this != &other)
    {
      this->x = other.x;
    }

    return *this;
  }
};

int main()
{
  std::vector<MyClass> vec;
  vec.push_back(MyClass(3));
  return 0;
}

EDIT:

It is possible to do this with std::set and std::list. I guess it is the sort() function in std::vector that uses assignment. This is not UB right?

#include <set>

// Attempt 1
struct MyClass
{
  int const x;
  MyClass(int x): x(x) {}
  bool operator< (const MyClass &other) const;
};

bool MyClass::operator<(const MyClass &other) const
{
  if(this->x < other.x)
  {
    return true;
  }
  else if (other.x < this->x)
  {
    return false;
  }

}


int main()
{
  std::set<MyClass> container;
  container.insert(MyClass(3));
  return 0;
}

Answer 1

EDIT2: (Removing a bunch of stuff that doesn’t have to work) The C++11 standard states that the insert method for vector and deque (and the default implementation of push_back for that matter) requires the value type to be CopyAssignable, i.e., the value supports:

t= v;

Classes and structs with const members are not CopyAssignable by default, so what you want to do won’t work.

This doc (n3173) has an explanation for the various container requirements.