Subversive Programming

I program mainly in C++. As such I know the language fairly well. If you are beyond the beginner stage of learning C++ you know that const correctness is important. It is a contract between you and the reader of the code that if they call this method they will not modify the data of the object in an observable way using the public API of the class.

Observable is important here because in some cases it is important to be able to have data that is modifiable in a class. The case that I find most compelling is when you need to cache a calculation for performance reasons.

Now there are ways around this using perfectly legal C++ syntax. I once saw some code where this was done and even proudly commented as "fooling the compiler". The problem is that the compiler isn't the only one being fooled. When this sort of thing is done you are basically lying to the poor maintainer of the code. If this happens frequently then code maintenance is more about navigating a field of land mines.

Most of the time engineers aren't intentionally subversive. In the example I cited this resulted from not knowing that this was subversive. A great engineer will actively learn what is subversive and endeavor to avoid it.

Be a better engineer by learning about subversive coding techniques and expunging them from your vocabulary. The following link is a good start http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unmain.html.