Many object-oriented languages have a special constructor function that’s called to initialize an object. Clients typically call this constructor when they want to create a new object. But these constructors often come with awkward limitations that aren’t there for more general functions. A Java constructor must return an instance of the class it was called with, which means I can’t replace it with a subclass or proxy depending on the environment or parameters. Constructor naming is fixed, which makes it impossible for me to use a name that is clearer than the default. Constructors often
...more
