Why are implicit superclass constructor calls made in the wrong order in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a)?

I have definied a handle class, class_a, which is a superclass of class_b. In turn, class_b is a superclass of class_c. All of the class constructors do not require input parameters, and are being called implicitly. I expect the constructors to be called in the order

class_a

class_b

class_c

similar to other object oriented programming languages. However, they are actually called in the order:

class_c

class_b

class_a

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This change has been incorporated into the documentation in MATLAB 7.8 (R2009a). For previous releases, read below for any additional information:

This is the expected behavior of the class system in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a), however it is not clearly documented.

MATLAB first calls the most specific class (class_c) constructor which gets a chance to control how superclass constructors are called. If there is no explicit call to a superclass constructor, the call is made before the object is accessed. This gives a constructor a chance to process input arguments and do any setup before calling superclass constructors. This process is repeated recursively when the superclass constructors are called.

To control the order in which superclass constructors are called, you can call them explicitly.