Essential .NET, Volume 1: The Common Language Runtime

Types and Initialization

Before we conclude the discussion of type members, there are two methods that bear special discussion. Types are allowed to provide a distinguished method that is called when the type is first initialized. This type initializer is simply a static method with a well-known name (.cctor). A type can have at most one type initializer, and it must take no parameters and return no value. Type initializers cannot be called directly; rather, they are called automatically by the CLR as part of the type's initialization. Each programming language provides its own syntax for defining a type initializer. In VB.NET, you simply write a Shared (per type) subroutine named New. In C#, you must write a static method whose name is the same ...