title: Why does const imply internal linkage in C++, when it doesn't in C?
body: <p>See subject. What were they thinking?</p>
  
  <p>UPDATE: Changed from "static" to "internal linkage" to save confusion.</p>
  
  <p>To give an example... Putting the following in a file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>const int var_a = 1;
  int var_b = 1;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>...and compiling with <code>g++ -c test.cpp</code> only exports <code>var_b</code>.</p>