Edward Diener
Most .Net objects aren't half-baked objects to use, but they are objects which are created with a default constructor, which gives people the idea that they are not ready to use. They rely quite a bit on properties being set in order to use, and those properties are set via the design-time interface in Visual Studio, which then injects code in the default constructor to set the properties. So while it looks like these objects are not ready to use, they really are.
Edward, I know little of .Net, so I'd appreciate it if you could help me out here. When you say "design-time interface," what are you talking about? Some kind of GUI? Are you saying that this GUI modifies the compiled binary, leaving no textual trace of member initialization values in the original source for the class? [for what it's worth, I don't think the answers to this question can affect my stance on Scott's question at all. Either the objects are fully-baked, or not, upon construction. How they come to be baked, and whether this "design-time interface" thing is a good idea, are separate issues] -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com