Magento and Getters

From the Magento core code (in class Magento_Core_Model_App):

    /**
     * Retrieve request object
     *
     * @return Mage_Core_Controller_Request_Http
     */
    public function getRequest()
    {
        if (empty($this->_request)) {
            $this->_request = new Mage_Core_Controller_Request_Http();
        }
        return $this->_request;
    }

Folks... puleaze!!!?

I just wasted about an hour on finding out where $this->_request was initialized. I debugged over $this->getRequest() about a gazillion times. This is just not the way to write code, for crying out loud! The phpdoc block actually states this, right up there: Retrieve request object. Retrieve!!!!!!!!1112. It doesn't say anything about initializing it.

I mean, yeah, by now I should probably be able to anticipate stuff like that, seeing as some of the magento standard models' load() methods have an optional parameter $create that defaults to... you guessed it! True!!

Some. Not all. That would be too consistent (even if it's decidedly wrong).

Duh.