Tackling the Conundrums of Constant Expressions-3 : Page 3

Compile-time Evaluation
In time critical applications, constants are often chosen for performance reasons i.e., to ensure compile time evaluation of expressions. MIN can be evaluated at compile-time if C::getval() is inlined (every decent compiler will inline the call anyway). Thus, performance-wise, MIN and MAX are equally efficient. However, MIN isn't an integral constant expression even when C::getval() is inlined since the rules of constant integral expressions are very strict. To qualify as a constant expression, MIN's initializer must be one of the following:

• A literal such as 5, 8ul, 'z', and false
• An enumerator
• A sizeof expression
• A const static data member initialized with a constant expression

To turn MIN into a constant expression, it's therefore necessary to replace the C::getval() call with a literal. If you're concerned about the maintenance problems that hard-coded literals might incur, use a macro instead. Yes, in spite of the fair criticism that macros often attract, they are still useful in some cases, so to speak:

#ifndef C_GETVAL
#define C_GETVAL 4
#endif

const int MIN=C_GETVAL;

Lo and behold, MIN is now a valid constant expression:

enum SIZES 
{
 S=MIN, //now OK
 L=512, 
 XL=MAX //fine
};

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