inheritance - C# constructor execution order

Question

In C#, when you do

Class(Type param1, Type param2) : base(param1) 

is the constructor of the class executed first, and then the superclass constructor is called or does it call the base constructor first?

Answer 1

The order is:

• Member variables are initialized to default values for all classes in the hierarchy

Then starting with the most derived class:

• Variable initializers are executed for the most-derived type
• Constructor chaining works out which base class constructor is going to be called
• The base class is initialized (recurse all of this :)
• The constructor bodies in the chain in this class are executed (note that there can be more than one if they're chained with Foo() : this(...) etc

Note that in Java, the base class is initialized before variable initializers are run. If you ever port any code, this is an important difference to know about :)

I have a page with more details if you're interested.