GNU bug report logs - #40671
[DOC] modify literal objects

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov <at> yandex.ru>
Cc: Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen <at> web.de>, Mattias Engdegård <mattiase <at> acm.org>, 40671 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>, ke.vigouroux <at> laposte.net
Subject: bug#40671: [DOC] modify literal objects
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 17:04:59 -0700

On 4/28/20 4:53 PM, Dmitry Gutov wrote:
> const object - an object whose type is const-qualified, or a non-mutable
> subobject of a const object. Such object _cannot_ be modified: attempt to do so
> directly is a _compile-time error_, and attempt to do so indirectly (e.g., by
> modifying the const object through a reference or pointer to non-const type)
> results in undefined behavior.

It's reasonable to have compile-time checking in a statically-typed language,
though (as the above quote notes) the checking isn't adequate for C++ and one
can get undefined behavior anyway in that language. And we could add some
similar compile-time checking for the Elisp byte-compiler: it could warn about
misuses like (aset "abc" 0 ?d), for example.

However, any such compile-time checking would be either too restrictive (with
false positives) or only partial (with false negatives) or both (as in C++). So
it wouldn't be an adequate substitute for documenting that some objects should
not be changed.

> I gave a couple of options.

I recall your using "literal object" but that's not a good choice of wording
because the problem can occur with objects that are not literally present in any
source code.

>> there's clear precedent
>> elsewhere for the terminology now in use in the emacs-27 manual.
>
> Any particular example?

By "elsewhere" I meant in other language documentation (C/C++/etc.), not
elsewhere in the emacs-27 manual.

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