iterator vs const_iterator

[Bit byte]

whats the difference - apart from what the name suggests? - i.e. one is
const

What are there pros and cons of using one over the other ?

[Victor Bazarov]

Bit byte wrote:

whats the difference - apart from what the name suggests? - i.e. one
is const

What are there pros and cons of using one over the other ?

http://www.aristeia.com/Papers/CUJ_June_2001.pdf

And check out the rest: http://www.aristeia.com/publications.html

V
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[Rolf Magnus]

Bit byte wrote:

whats the difference - apart from what the name suggests?
- i.e. one is const

It isn't const. It's used to access an element of a container as constant.

What are there pros and cons of using one over the other ?

Pretty much the same as with any other use of constants.
The advantage of the regular iterator is that you can modify objects through
it. The advantage of the const_iterator is that you can use it to access
elements of a container that is const.

[Thorsten Kiefer]

Bit byte wrote:

whats the difference - apart from what the name suggests? - i.e. one is
const

What are there pros and cons of using one over the other ?

Hi,
const_iteratoer means that within the iterator the container is const and
all of its elements are const. With a const_iterator you can neither modify
the container(add/remove elements) nor can you modify the elements in that
container. The advantage of the const_iterator is that the compiler
produces faster code when you use it. So you should use the const_iterator
whenever you iterate over the container without modifying anything.

Regards
Thorsten