#670 – Static vs. Instance Initialization

Static fields and properties are data members associated with a class itself, rather with instances of that class.  A static constructor can be used to initialize static members.  Static fields can also be initialized when they are declared.

The first time that you reference a static member, the following occurs:

• All static fields are initialized
• The static constructor is called
• Your code, which accesses the static member, executes

If you reference an instance method, or create an instance of the class, before referencing any static members, the following occurs:

• All static fields are initialized
• The static constructor is called
• All instance fields are initialized
• The instance constructor is called
• Your code, which accesses an instance member, executes

For example, initializing an instance of a Dog leads to the output shown below.

Dog d = new Dog();