1) For every a and b which are non-const pointers of the same type, you can do a

Question

1) For every a and b which are non-const pointers of the same type, you can do a = b;, right?

2) Inside non-const member functions the this keyword exists, which is a non-const pointer. So logicaly if b is same type as this you can also do this = b; right?

Wrong.

You cannot do this = b;, because this uses pointer syntax but logically this is a reference!

But why on earth is this syntactically a pointer but logically reference?

Can this weird behavior be corrected in next C++ standard, by introducing a new keyword, for example me which will be reference not only logically but also syntactically?

(See also my attempt to solve this here: Is it a good idea to

Explanation / Answer

this is (like nullptr) a constant pointer; the pointed data is const if and only if this appears in the body of a const member function.

You cannot change a constant pointer, like you cannot change a constant literal like 23.

So assignment to this like

this = p; // WRONG
is prohibited for the same reasons assignment to nullptr is forbidden:

nullptr = 0; // wrong

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