Hi John, John Love-Jensen wrote: > [...] > The rationale is in the Design & Evolution of C++. I'll have that soon. > Synopsis: it would be far too easy to accidentally use a temporary as an > lvalue, especially since C++ is "helpful" by doing implicit conversions > (which may create temporaries otherwise unbeknownst to the programmer). Ahh, now I see. This really helps me understanding the design of C++ here. > [...] > One workaround to the language safety feature is to do what auto_ptr does. Yes, but by doing so I start writing code for the machine again. I write code for other programmers to read it. And if you take a look at the auto_ptr implementation: it's really hard to read. > > A better workaround is to design the application so that it wouldn't need > to use non-const references to temporaries. I'd like to, as long as the code keeps readable. The auto_ptr approach is no option for me. In my case it's just about a bool attribute that need's to be changed. One solution could be to just make it mutable. Thanks, Christian
