[Mpi-22] Ticket #46: Add const Keyword to theC bindings-implementation

[Pavan Balaji]

Hi Jeff,

> The testing that I'm talking about would be writing tests to ensure that 
> const was put in the right place in all the interfaces -- being able to 
> repeatably prove that (i.e., regression testing).  Be creative -- 
> perhaps you can use the MPI's mpi.h with a test code that implements 
> MPI_Send with const in the wrong parameter location.  It should fail to 
> compile, right?  Or perhaps it has const in the right parameter location 
> but then doesn't cast it away and intentionally modifies it.  That 
> should also fail, right?  Those are good QA tests.

Thanks. With these tests are you testing the MPI implementation or the 
test program itself? If the application (or test program) uses a const 
in the wrong place, the compiler will throw a warning/error. And if the 
user decides to ignore it, there's nothing the MPI implementation can do 
about it.

> What's the *need* to make this 2.2?  Why such a strong push to get this 
> in 2.2?  What's the rush?  As Brian noted, any MPI implementation can 
> have const in their C bindings today, regardless of what happens in 2.2.

Inertia :-). Since the proposal is already in 2.2, I think the onus is 
to show an argument to *move* it to 3.0, rather than to keep it in 2.2.

  -- Pavan


-- 
Pavan Balaji
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/~balaji