A bit more verbose than Meyers, but I might do this:
class X {
private:
// This method MUST NOT be called except from boilerplate accessors.
Z &_getZ(size_t index) const {
return something;
}
// boilerplate accessors
public:
Z &getZ(size_t index) { return _getZ(index); }
const Z &getZ(size_t index) const { return _getZ(index); }
};
The private method has the undesirable property that it returns a non-const Z& for a const instance, which is why it's private. Private methods may break invariants of the external interface (in this case the desired invariant is "a const object cannot be modified via references obtained through it to objects it has-a").
Note that the comments are part of the pattern - _getZ's interface specifies that it is never valid to call it (aside from the accessors, obviously): there's no conceivable benefit to doing so anyway, because it's 1 more character to type and won't result in smaller or faster code. Calling the method is equivalent to calling one of the accessors with a const_cast, and you wouldn't want to do that either. If you're worried about making errors obvious (and that's a fair goal), then call it const_cast_getZ instead of _getZ.
By the way, I appreciate Meyers's solution. I have no philosophical objection to it. Personally, though, I prefer a tiny bit of controlled repetition, and a private method that must only be called in certain tightly-controlled circumstances, over a method that looks like line noise. Pick your poison and stick with it.
[Edit: Kevin has rightly pointed out that _getZ might want to call a further method (say generateZ) which is const-specialised in the same way getZ is. In this case, _getZ would see a const Z& and have to const_cast it before return. That's still safe, since the boilerplate accessor polices everything, but it's not outstandingly obvious that it's safe. Furthermore, if you do that and then later change generateZ to always return const, then you also need to change getZ to always return const, but the compiler won't tell you that you do.
That latter point about the compiler is also true of Meyers's recommended pattern, but the first point about a non-obvious const_cast isn't. So on balance I think that if _getZ turns out to need a const_cast for its return value, then this pattern loses a lot of its value over Meyers's. Since it also suffers disadvantages compared to Meyers's, I think I would switch to his in that situation. Refactoring from one to the other is easy -- it doesn't affect any other valid code in the class, since only invalid code and the boilerplate calls _getZ.]
