In MatLab, i have a superclass A that takes some parameters, x and y

classdef A < handle
properties
   x;
   y;
   z;
end
methods
   function this = A(x, y)
      this.x = x;
      this.y = y;
      this.initialize();
   end
   function initialize(this)
      this.z = this.x + this.y;
   end
end
end

The initialize method is supposed to do some initial calculations to fasten computation later.

Now i want to create a child class B of A, with it's own inialization, but B should be initialized before A.

classdef B < A
properties
   p
end
methods
   % B takes another parameter p
   function this = B(p)
      % Since B is a subclass of A, and A takes some parameters we have to
      % call the constructer of A as the first thing.
      this = [email protected]([], []);
      this.p = p;
   end
   function initialize(this)
      this.x = this.p(1);
      this.y = this.p(2);
      % This is when initialize of A should be called.
   end
end
end

Basically i just want to initialize B before A, but because the constructer of the parent have to be called as the first thing, i cannot figure out how to do this.

In PHP I would do something like this

class A {
   public function __construct($x, $y) {
      $this->x = $x;
      $this->y = $y;
      $this->initialize();
   }
   public function initialize() {
      $this->z = $this->x + $this->y;
   }
}
class B extends A {
   public function __construct($p) {
      // Does not call the parent constructor.
      $this->p = $p;
      $this->initialize();
   }
   public function initialize() {
      $this->x = $this->p[0];
      $this->y = $this->p[1];
      parent::initialize(); // Now we are ready to initialize A
   }
}

Is there a smart way to design what i want in MatLab? Do i have to give up the inheritance of A in class B?

The complication arises since:

If you create a subclass object, MATLAB® calls the superclass constructor to initialize the superclass part of the subclass object. By default, MATLAB calls the superclass constructor without arguments. [src]

You can get around explicitly calling the superclass constructor by wrapping its work in an if-statement dependent on how many arguments it was passed (nargin):

function this = A(x, y)
    if (nargin ~= 0)  % or (nargin == 2) in this case
        this.x = x;
        this.y = y;
        this.initialize();
    end
end

And then B's methods would look like:

function this = B(p)
    this.p = p;
    this.initialize();
end
function initialize(this)
    this.x = this.p(1);
    this.y = this.p(2);
    [email protected](this);
end

It may just be error in the post, but A's initialize method is referencing undefined variables x and y and not their properties. It should be:

function initialize(this)
    this.z = this.x + this.y;
 end

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