Comment by gumby

> Const correctness in C++ is a nice feature, but to say it is missing in many other languages is a bit exaggeration. Many other languages offer a much superior tool - immutable data types. Immutability is stronger than C++ const correctness and easier to use at the same time.

Technically C++ const can be used to implement immutable types just as they exist in other languages (and can be hidden behind a library entry point) but I agree that conceptually it's easier to think of an immutable string or vector as an inherent property of the object rather than one applied. And in C++ I don't think you can prevent casting away constness.

> Templates are nowhere near capabilities and ease of use of languages with proper (read: not accidental) macro/metaprogramming systems (e.g. Lisps) or languages with modern generic type systems designed from the ground up (Haskell, Scala/Dotty, Idris, etc). Templates are IMHO a powerful hack, but hack is still a hack with all the consequences - terrible error messages, slow compile times, difficult debugging, late error detection, a lot of accidental complexity caused by templates not being first-class citizens etc.

Templates were not an accidental hack for macros; as Stroustrup once said to me, "the ecological niche of 'macro' had already been polluted so templates were my only way to put macros into the language." I agree it sucks next to lisp macrology (but as a lisp developer since the 1970s I would say that wouldn't I?) but hell, the language makes a distinction between expressions and statements so there's only so much you can do.