Public const variable or private with a get function, which is preferable?

Question

So I have a variable I often have to call outside the class, I was told that I should do this:

class Foo{
    public:
        //stuff
    Type getVariable();
    private:
        Type Variable;
        //stuff
}

But why can't I just use:

class Foo{
    public:
        //stuff
    const Type variable
    private:
        //stuff
}

Answer 1

You can, but don't expect the same results.

In the second case, you can't modify variable anymore, not even inside the functions.

They're different things.