This turns out to be almost useless information for most of us, since the real problem is not re-assignment, but mutation of the value (in the case of non-primitives).
`const x = 2` feels great emotionally, but `const x = [2]` has the feeling of safety without any of the guarantee.
This is a classic case (quoted from Crockford regularly) of a utility that it sometimes useful and sometimes harmful (aka not useful), and there's a better option (`let`), so the better option should generally be preferred.
I only use `const` (refactor from `let`) when a piece of code is reasonably complete and I'm pretty sure re-assignment will not ever be appropriate. Guessing at that before writing the code is a premature optimization.
And guessing wrongly and having to refactor back to `let` later is more risky.
Const is perfectly sensible with references to mutable objects too. The latter guarantees that x will always point to the same mutable array. If you pass a reference to the x array to a function which needs to mutate that specific array or observe it for changes, then it may be important that x is never rebound to a different array. Consider the following code:
const x = [5,6,7];
Object.observe(x, function(changes) {
console.log('changes', changes);
});
// ...
// time to clear the array
// WRONG! The code observing changes to the old x array will not see
// this change or future changes to this new array. Because we used const, this
// will trigger an error and immediately show us our mistake.
x = [];
// CORRECT. This mutates the array instead of creating a new empty array.
x.length = 0;This notion (concern) is meaningless in JS, since when you pass any reference, it's always a reference-copy, so there's no value nor assistance that `const` provides.
As a reader, I know that after reading a const line I don't have to check if someone rebinds this name before each use site -- it's impossible.
Interpreters and static analysis tools use this information to stop you when you write a piece of code that rebinds the name, asking "did you really mean to do that? You said you wouldn't."