http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=369309


in reply to Re^2: Surviving 'Illegal division by zero'
in thread Surviving 'Illegal division by zero'

I only propose it because most constructors also allow for values to be passed in, which keeps to the Principle of Least Surprise.

I don't like constructors that are also intializers - constructors that are initializers make MI harder than it should be. I do have some coding guidelines (posted somewhere on this site), and there I explain I don't initialize objects from the constructor for exactly that reason - making MI harder (of course, if your object is anything other than "just a blessed reference", MI is doomed anyway).

And sure allowing arguments to the constructor, and having the constructor call the initializer if arguments are given works, but it makes the constructor less simple, and hence, less elegant.

The "everyone else does it" argument doesn't work for me, or else I had used blessed hashrefs for objects instead of just a blessed reference.

Abigail