: this(foo) syntax in C# constructors?

Question

Every now and then, I bump into syntax that I\'ve seen before, but never used. This is one of those times.

Can someone explain the purpose of \":this\" or \":base\"

Answer 1

Yes you are right. This syntax is used to have your subclass constructors to explicitly call an appropriate custom base class constructor, rather than the default. The this keyword in your question is explained:

Another use of the this keyword is to force one constructor to call another in order to avoid redundant member initialization logic.

in Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform, 3rd Edition by Andrew Troelsen