[SOLVED] error: const method that returns an array of pointers by reference

error: const method that returns an array of pointers by reference

class Board{
private:
    Shape shapes[100];
    Tile* tiles[16];
public:
    const Shape (&getShapes() const)[100]{return shapes;}; // (1) 
    const Tile* (&getTiles() const)[16]{return tiles;}; // (2)
};

I made this class called Board that has two methods returning an array by reference.

Method (2) reports an error:

qualifiers dropped in binding reference of type "const Tile *(&)[16]" to initializer of type "Tile *const [16]"

I fixed this error by writing const to the return type in method (1), but it doesn't work for method (2).

Why is this error occurring?

Solution

The element type of this array

 Tile* tiles[16]

is Tile *. As the member function is a constant member function then the function should return the array by reference with constant elements. That is it should be declared like

Tile* const (&getTiles() const)[16]{return tiles;}

That is you may not assign new values to the pointers stored in the array.