Yeah! I can convert!

[hohmann@valais.csmil.umich.edu]

After months of begging/pleading/demanding/etc. I have finally put my
foot down and told my project manager:  "I am converting all 29,000+
of 1.3.2 to 2.0, and you can't stop me!!"  And, while he is a little
nervous, he knows there is no turning back.

So, hooray for me, but now I find myself learning CLOS as I convert all
this wonderful MCL1.3.2 ObjectLisp code.  I am studying the example source
code, and the (simple) question I have is related to the design of methods 
for initializing instances of objects.  Consider, for example, the code 
found on page 503 in the manual.  (This is the shapes-code.lisp example).

Looking at the initialize-instance method for the class 'shape-window,
I notice that the first thing this method does is:

     (apply #'call-next-method window initargs)

My question is:  if the first thing you are going to do is call the
primary methods defined on the 'window class, why not code the
#'initialize-instance method on the 'shape-window class as an :after
method, and then simply remove the call to apply?  I believe this
would be both more efficient and conceptually correct, or am I 
missing something really important and/or really basic?

Thanks for your replies.  I realize that both implementations are
correct, in the sense that both "get the job done", but I am more
interested in learning good CLOS style and writing long-term maintainable
source code.  Thanks!

-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------
Luke Hohmann                       | hohmann@csmil.umich.edu
University of Michigan             | 313-763-1043 (Office)
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory | 313-677-0952 (Home)
1101 Beal Ave                      | 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2110           | "You should do more aerobics!"