#286 – A Constructor is Called When an Instance of a Class Is Created

A constructor is a method that is called when a new instance of a class is created.  (Technically, this definition applies to instance constructors–I’ll cover static constructors later).

A constructor normally allows a class to initialize its data members, as part of the process of creating a new instance.

A constructor is defined by using the class’ name as the method name.  The simplest form of constructor, known as the default constructor, takes no parameters.

    public class Dog
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }

        // Constructor, called when we create a new Dog
        public Dog()
        {
            // Set a default name
            Name = "Pooch";
        }
    }

The constructor in the above example is called when we create a new instance of a Dog, using the new operator.

            Dog someDog = new Dog();

            Console.WriteLine(someDog.Name);       // Pooch