Question

What is the difference between

    const string& getName() const {return name;}

and

    string& getName() const {return name;}

What does const mean at the beginning and at the end?

Answer 1

The const at the end of the function signature means the method is a const member function, so both your methods are const member functions.

The const at the beginning means whatever is being returned is const.

The first example is a const method returning a const reference to internal data, and is therefore const-correct.

The second is a const method returning non-const reference to internal data. This is not const-correct because it means you would be able to modify the data of a const object.

A call to a const a method cannot change any of the instance’s data (with the exception of mutable data members) and can only call other const methods.

Const methods can be called on const or non-const instances, but non-const methods can only be called on non-const instances.