What is the best way to give a C# auto-property an initial value?

Question

How do you give a C# auto-property an initial value?

I either use the constructor, or revert to the old syntax.

Using the Constructor:

Answer 1

In addition to the answer already accepted, for the scenario when you want to define a default property as a function of other properties you can use expression body notation on C#6.0 (and higher) for even more elegant and concise constructs like:

public class Person{

    public string FullName  => $"{First} {Last}"; // expression body notation

    public string First { get; set; } = "First";
    public string Last { get; set; } = "Last";
}

You can use the above in the following fashion

    var p = new Person();

    p.FullName; // First Last

    p.First = "Jon";
    p.Last = "Snow";

    p.FullName; // Jon Snow

In order to be able to use the above "=>" notation, the property must be read only, and you do not use the get accessor keyword.

Details on MSDN