Initialize class fields in constructor or at declaration?

Question

I\'ve been programming in C# and Java recently and I am curious where the best place is to initialize my class fields.

Should I do it at declaration?:

Answer 1

The design of C# suggests that inline initialization is preferred, or it wouldn't be in the language. Any time you can avoid a cross-reference between different places in the code, you're generally better off.

There is also the matter of consistency with static field initialization, which needs to be inline for best performance. The Framework Design Guidelines for Constructor Design say this:

✓ CONSIDER initializing static fields inline rather than explicitly using static constructors, because the runtime is able to optimize the performance of types that don’t have an explicitly defined static constructor.

"Consider" in this context means to do so unless there's a good reason not to. In the case of static initializer fields, a good reason would be if initialization is too complex to be coded inline.