Originally posted by Max White:
... Now is it even possible for someone like Bruce Eckel to write this casually?
I think Eckel's style is to illustrate concepts in different ways, and his emphasis is more on getting you to understand how things
work rather than using ultra-precise terminology that's always in accordance with the
Java Language Specification. In the 3rd edition of TIJ, he introduces the concept by saying...
You can imagine creating a method called initialize() for every class you write. The name is a hint that it should be called before using the object.
He then expands on this concept of an initializer method by saying...
In Java, the class designer can guarantee initialization of every object by providing a special method called a constructor.
Maybe the key is what the word "special" entails, but I'm not sure he really defines that.
[ August 25, 2008: Message edited by: marc weber ]