I am confused why the following pattern's call to the other constructor block does not count as the first statement in the constructor block:

public class MyClass
{
    final String someProperty;
    public MyClass()
    {
        /* some default logic */
    }
    public MyClass(String someProperty)
    {
        this().someProperty = someProperty;
    }
}

It seems to me like the order of operations should be:

1. The empty constructor runs.
2. The property gets assigned.

However, I get a compile error:

Call to another constructor must be the first statement in constructor block

Edits

I realize that I can just separate the calls.

public MyClass(String someProperty)
{
    this();
    this.someProperty = someProperty;
}

However, I am trying to understand why this() behaves differently than new MyClass(). They both run the empty constructor! But they allow for different behavior after the constructor completes. Note that I can chain directly off the constructor when using the fluent pattern.

new MyClass().doSomeStuff().doOtherStuff();

I am confused why the following pattern's call to the other constructor block does not count as the first statement in the constructor block:

public class MyClass
{
    final String someProperty;
    public MyClass()
    {
        /* some default logic */
    }
    public MyClass(String someProperty)
    {
        this().someProperty = someProperty;
    }
}

It seems to me like the order of operations should be:

1. The empty constructor runs.
2. The property gets assigned.

However, I get a compile error:

Call to another constructor must be the first statement in constructor block

Edits

I realize that I can just separate the calls.

public MyClass(String someProperty)
{
    this();
    this.someProperty = someProperty;
}

However, it sure would be nice to be able to one-line this constructor chaining. I am trying to understand why this() behaves differently than new MyClass(). They both run the empty constructor! But they allow for different behavior after the constructor completes. Note that I can chain directly off the constructor when using the fluent pattern.

new MyClass().doSomeStuff().doOtherStuff();

I am confused why the following pattern's call to the other constructor block does not count as the first statement in the constructor block:

public class MyClass
{
    final String someProperty;
    public MyClass()
    {
        /* some default logic */
    }
    public MyClass(String someProperty)
    {
        this().someProperty = someProperty;
    }
}

It seems to me like the order of operations should be:

1. The empty constructor runs.
2. The property gets assigned.

However, I get a compile error:

Call to another constructor must be the first statement in constructor block

I am confused why the following pattern's call to the other constructor block does not count as the first statement in the constructor block:

public class MyClass
{
    final String someProperty;
    public MyClass()
    {
        /* some default logic */
    }
    public MyClass(String someProperty)
    {
        this().someProperty = someProperty;
    }
}

It seems to me like the order of operations should be:

1. The empty constructor runs.
2. The property gets assigned.

However, I get a compile error:

Call to another constructor must be the first statement in constructor block

Edits

I realize that I can just separate the calls.

public MyClass(String someProperty)
{
    this();
    this.someProperty = someProperty;
}

However, I am trying to understand why this() behaves differently than new MyClass(). They both run the empty constructor! But they allow for different behavior after the constructor completes. Note that I can chain directly off the constructor when using the fluent pattern.

new MyClass().doSomeStuff().doOtherStuff();