class C
{
public:
void foo() const {}
private:
void foo() {}
};
int main()
{
C c;
c.foo();
}
MSVC 2013 doesn't like this:
> error C2248: 'C::foo' : cannot access private member declared in class 'C'
If I cast to a const
reference, it works:
const_cast<C const &>(c).foo();
Why can't I call the const
method on the nonconst
object?
From the standard:
13.3.3 If a best viable function exists and is unique, overload resolution succeeds and produces it as the result.
Otherwise overload resolution fails and the invocation is ill-formed. When overload resolution succeeds, and
the best viable function is not accessible (Clause 11) in the context in which it is used, the program is
ill-formed.
The object is not const
, so the non-const
overload is a better match. Overload resolution happens before access checking. This ensures that overload resolution is not inadvertently changed by changing the access of a member function.