On 1/27/22 12:42 PM, WhatMeWorry wrote:
Assuming I can speak in correct programmer-ese: I was wondering why the
qualifiers were placed after the function parameter list (int i). Just
for fun, I moved to type qualifiers before the function definitions
"this" (like a return type?) and the output was exactly identical. So
I guess my question is, is this just a matter of esthetics or is some
more nuanced goal at work here?
For constructors, being on the front is not misleading. But for a member
function that returns a value, take a look:
```d
struct S
{
int * x;
const int *foo() { return x; }
}
```
What do you think happens here?
The answer, is that this is a compiler error. The error is that the
`const` applies to the `this` parameter and *not* the return value. So
you are accepting a `const S`, and trying to return its member `x` as a
plain `int *`.
This is why we always recommend putting the `this` modifiers at the end
of the function to make it visually clear that they don't apply to the
return value.
-Steve
