Thread: Mutable members in const member functions still const

I´ve been trying to modify a data-member in const member function on a const object but I´ve been unsuccesful. I´ve been reading a book and found a code example on the net (http://cplus.about.com/library/gloss...ef-mutable.htm) on this subject, but still I can´t get it. Here is the code

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

class Animal {
public:
     void setAge(int age);
	 int getAge() const {return itsage;}
	 Animal(string aname, string afood, int age);

private:
     string name;
     string food;
     mutable int itsage;

};

Animal::Animal(string aname, string afood, int age)
{
	name = aname;
	food = afood;
	itsage = age;
}

void Animal::setAge(int age)
{
	itsage = age;
}

int main()
{
    Animal Tiger(string("Tigerman"), string("Meat"), 8); 
    //const Animal Tigermania(string("Tigermania"), string("moremeat"), 10);

    Tiger.setAge(90);
	
    cout << "Tigerman is " << Tiger.getAge() << " year(s) old" << endl;
     
return 0;
}

A get a compiler-error on the line

Code:

const Animal Tigermania(string("Tigermania"), string("moremeat"), 10);

Apperently I´m using it wrong because I´ve compiled it under two different compilers and get the same error.

Its a little perverse doing this IMO
....
....
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Hmm..seems to work...but I still see it as perverse

LOL , a little??? I know what you are meaning but I wanted to se if it was possible. But what is more perverse is how they could "forget" the const on http://cplus.about.com/library/gloss...ef-mutable.htm.

Just out of curiosity is the setAge function overloaded in this case??

Code:

void setAge(int age)const;
void setAge(int age);

Depending if an object is const or not the "right" function is invoked. But if I recall it right, a fuction is only overloaded when the parameter list differs.