C# Variable Initialization Question

Question

Is there any difference on whether I initialize an integer variable like:

int i = 0;
int i;

Does the compiler or CLR treat this as the same

Answer 1

With all this talk, it is worth mentioning the "default" keyword in C#.

I.e. int i; is equivalent to int i = default(int); which is equivalent to int i = 0; and MyClass o = default(MyClass); is equivalent to MyClass o = null;

This is especially relevant when using linq methods such as .SingleOrDefault() because you can always use the following to make your code more readable:

int someValue = collection..SingleOrDefault();
if (someValue == default(int))
{
  //Code for the default case
}

and

MyClass someValue = collection..SingleOrDefault();
if (someValue == default(MyClass))
{
  //Code for the default case
}