Question

I have a recursive method which is simplified below:

private List<string> data;
public string Method1()
{
    data = new List<string>();

    //When Method 1 gets called first time there is a problem
    //When Method 1 gets called from Method2 problem is fixed
    if (problem)
    {
        data.Add("prob");
    }

    if(data.Count > 0)
    {
        return Method2()
    }
    else
    {
        return string.Empty();
    }
}

private string Method2()
{
    return Method1();
}

When Method1 gets called from Method2 am I right thinking that the data variable is reinitialized wiping out what was previously in there?

Answer 1

When you call Method1 you are creating new List<string> so old data variable value becomes inaccessible (will be garbage collected).

To avoid it, you have to initialize data somewhere outside Method1 e.g. in constructor.