VOTE: const west or east const

[j-stephan]

Currently there is no way to enforce a ruling on this since both clang-format and clang-tidy don't offer any related options. AFAIK there is a PR to clang-format in the pipeline but who knows when that will be incorporated. In any case we should decide on this as well so that we don't need to vote again once the option arrives.

The arguments for const west are found in the C++ Core Guidelines: https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppCoreGuidelines.md#Rl-const

tl;dr: It is more familiar to programmers and already present in a lot of code bases.

const west examples:

const int some_var = 1;
const int* some_ptr;
const int* const constant_ptr;
const char* a_function();
const std::string& someClass::a_method();

The arguments for east const are presented here: https://mariusbancila.ro/blog/2018/11/23/join-the-east-const-revolution/

tl;dr: It is more logical and consistent.

east const examples:

int const some_var = 1;
int const* some_ptr;
int const* const constant_ptr;
char const* a_function();
std::string const& someClass::a_method();

VOTE

const west	east const
0	1

[j-stephan]

@psychocoderHPC Can you notify the PIConGPU developers and the alpaka developers? Apparently I can't do this myself, maybe I'm missing some permissions.

[PrometheusPi]

const west	east const
1	1

[bernhardmgruber]

const west	east const
2	1

The argument that east const is more logical because then the const keyword always applies to the entity left to it is sound. However, I increasingly rarely find situations where there could be an ambiguity. The examples in Jan's article proposing east const are mostly related to the use of pointers. But with better abstractions in recent C++ versions (references, string_view, span, unique_ptr, etc.) the need for pointers diminishes.

On the contrary, the information that a variable is const is of prime importance to me. It is the first thing I want to know about a variable. Thus I prefer to have const as the first keyword.

[sbastrakov]

const west	east const
3	1

(even despite one of my old Reddit accounts was literally EastConst)

[ax3l]

const west	east const
3	2

east const, the only consistent const.

Especially useful when passing pointers of vectors of unique ptrs of maps of something and trying to find out which parts are mutable.

west const randomness:

void const_west(
    const std::vector<
        std::unique_ptr<
            std::map< std::string, const float * >
        >
    > * const x
) {}

vs. "what's left is const": 🧑‍🍳

void east_const(
    std::vector<
        std::unique_ptr<
            std::map< std::string, float const * >
        >
    > const * const x
) {}

[theZiz]

const west	east const
3	3

[ax3l]

Can you notify the PIConGPU developers and the alpaka developers?

@ComputationalRadiationPhysics/picongpu-developers @ComputationalRadiationPhysics/alpaka-developers

[KseniaBastrakova]

const west	east const
4	3

[BenjaminW3]

const west	east const
4	4

[michaelsippel]

const west	east const
4	5

[theZiz]

🍿

[sbastrakov]

So as expected east style vs. west is a hot topic.

[j-stephan]

Do we have any rules for a tie?

[steindev]

Do we have any rules for a tie?

Invite an odd number of people and let them vote...