Question

I don’t know if this has been asked before, but we’re having a discussion about it today at my job. Should private variables (that are shared/static) be instantiated when they are dimensioned/defined, or is it a better practice to do this inside of a constructor?

For example, this seems perfectly fine to me…

Public Class IpCam

    Private Const HOST As String = "http://test.com/url/example"
    Private Shared _Example As New OurClass(HOST)

    Public Shared ReadOnly Property Example() As OurClass
        Get
            Return _Example
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

But others are telling me that it should be done like this…

Public Class IpCam

    Private Const HOST As String = "http://test.com/url/example"
    Private Shared _Example As OurClass

    Public Sub New()
        _Example = New OurClass(HOST)
    End Sub

    Public Shared ReadOnly Property Example() As OurClass
        Get
            Return _Example
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

What is the difference? Is there a common consensus as to which one to use?

Answer 1

It’s really a matter of preference. I think what’s more important is consistency: if you instantiate a few variables inline, and others in a constructor, it can get harder to maintain, as it’s unclear what is instantiated where.

A good idea is to keep variable declarations just above your constructor (so you don’t have to jump around to find all the variable instantiations), and instantiate everything inline. For those few objects which require more complex initialization code, you can use a constructor.