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c#.netoverloadingconstructor-overloading

Overload "base" constructor or "this" constructor?


I have few types that derive from simplified Base as shown below.

I am not sure whether to use base class's constructor or this constructor when overloading constructors.

ConcreteA overloads constructors purely using base constructors, while
ConcreteB overloads using this for the first two overloads.

What would be a better way of overloading constructors?

public abstract class Base
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int? Age { get; set; }

    protected Base() : this(string.Empty) {}
    protected Base(string name) : this(name, null) {}
    protected Base(string name, int? age)
    {
        Name = name;
        Age = age;
    }
}

public class ConcreteA : Base
{
    public ConcreteA(){}
    public ConcreteA(string name) : base(name) {}
    public ConcreteA(string name, int? age) : base(name, age)
    {
    }
}

public class ConcreteB : Base
{
    public ConcreteB() : this(string.Empty, null){}
    public ConcreteB(string name): this(name, null){}
    public ConcreteB(string name, int? age) : base(name, age)
    {
    }
}

[Edit] It looks like what Ian Quigley has suggested in his answer seemed to make sense. If I were to have a call that initialize validators, ConcreteA(string) will never initialize validators in following case.

public class ConcreteA : Base
{
    public ConcreteA(){}
    public ConcreteA(string name) : base(name) {}
    public ConcreteA(string name, int? age) : base(name, age)
    {
        InitializeValidators();
    }
    private void InitializeValidators() {}
}

Solution

  • This. Because if you ever place code in ConcreteB(string, int?) then you want the string only constructor to call it.