The architecture/design part of this article sounded a bit odd. For the sake of 'purity of design' or something like that he decided to eschew constructors, bu

The architecture/design part of this article sounded a bit odd. For the sake of 'purity of design' or something like that he decided to eschew constructors, but then it turns out that an un-initialized timer is not useful... which to me is the classic example of when you do provide a no-args constructor with a smart default...? These sorts of designers annoy me. They've disappeared too far up their own backsides for the sake of some arbitrary aesthetic. Moreover by leaving traps like this in their own code they always get out of their depth, and it's the pragmatists like me who have to go in after them and rescue them. My rule of thumb when choosing between great art and great pragmatism is to make life easier for 'the next guy'. Because 9 times out of 10 you're the next guy.