How to call a different constructor conditionally in Java?
constructor, java
Solution
Yeah, what @Johan Sjöberg said.
Also looks like your example is highly contrived. There's no magical answer which would clear this mess :)
Usually, if you have such a bunch of constructors it would be a good idea to refactor them as four separate classes (a class should be only responsible for one type of thing).
Problem
Let's say someone gives you a class, `Super`, with the following constructors: ``` public class Super { public Super(); public Super(int arg); public Super(String arg); public Super(int[] arg); } ``` And let's say you want to create a subclass `Derived`. How do you conditionally call a constructor in `Super`? In other words, what is the "proper" way to make something like this work? ``` public class Derived extends Super { public Derived(int arg) { if (some_condition_1) super(); else if (some_condition_2) super("Hi!"); else if (some_condition_3) super(new int[] { 5 }); else super(arg); } } ```