A real default doesn’t need a keyword.

There are [1] and [2] for function arguments and loop variables, respectively, but nothing for the general case. Note that a type checker will complain if you re-assign with a different type. Pylint also has [3] for redefining variables from an outer scope, but Ruff doesn't implement that yet.

[1] https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/rules/redefined-argument-from-lo...

[2] https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/rules/redefined-loop-name/

[3] https://pylint.pycqa.org/en/latest/user_guide/messages/warni...

At least with clang it's a warning:

    f.c:4:8: warning: initializing 'int *' with an expression of type 'const int     *' discards qualifiers [-Wincompatible-pointer-types-discards-qualifiers]
    4 |   int* p = &x;
      |        ^   ~~
    1 warning generated.

Yes, because line 3 would implicitly be: const int * p

For what it's worth, I was experimenting with this idea for Python (in an almost completely vibe-coded fashion) here: https://github.com/jlmcgraw/pure-function-decorators

Whether it's of any actual utility is debatable

I believe the standard counterargument goes:

- either it's transitive, in which case your type system is very much more complicated

- or it isn't, in which case it's a near useless liability

Naturally C++ runs with the latter, with bonus extra typing for all the overloads it induces.

He also stopped shipping things.

not if it gets optimized out