To init or to construct

Question

I'm reviewing some code and I'm seeing a lot of this:

class Foo
{
public:
  Foo()
  {
    // 'nuffin
  }

  void init()
  {
    // actual construction code
  }
} ;

The only advantage I can see is if you create a Foo without using a pointer and you want to hold off its construction code until later, then you can.

Is this a good idea or a bad idea?

Answer 1

I dislike it. It seems to me that after construction, an object should be... well... constructed. That code leaves it in an invalid state instead, which is almost¹ never a good thing.

 

¹_{Weasel word inserted to account for unforeseen circumstances.}