Should I use virtual 'Initialize()' functions to initialize an object of my class?

Question

I\'m currently having a discussion with my teacher about class design and we came to the point of Initialize() functions, which he heavily promotes. Example:

Answer 1

For Initialize: exactly what your teacher says, but in well-designed code you'll probably never need it.

Against: non-standard, may defeat the purpose of a constructor if used spuriously. More importantly: client needs to remember to call Initialize. So, either instances will be in an inconsistent state upon construction, or they need lots of extra bookkeeping to prevent client code from calling anything else:

void Foo::im_a_method()
{
    if (!fully_initialized)
        throw Unitialized("Foo::im_a_method called before Initialize");
    // do actual work
}

The only way to prevent this kind of code is to start using factory functions. So, if you use Initialize in every class, you'll need a factory for every hierarchy.

In other words: don't do this if it's not necessary; always check if the code can be redesigned in terms of standard constructs. And certainly don't add a public Destroy member, that's the destructor's task. Destructors can (and in inheritance situations, must) be virtual anyway.