int num = new int(); What happens when this line executes?

Question

Got to know a new thing today that we can create integers by using new operator as below

int num = new int();

Now I wonder if

Answer 1

The answer is in section 4.1.2 of the C# language spec:

All value types implicitly declare a public parameterless instance constructor called the default constructor. The default constructor returns a zero-initialized instance known as the default value for the value type:

Like any other instance constructor, the default constructor of a value type is invoked using the new operator. For efficiency reasons, this requirement is not intended to actually have the implementation generate a constructor call. In the example below, variables i and j are both initialized to zero.

class A
{
    void F() {
        int i = 0;
        int j = new int();
    }
}

In terms of doing things without using a default constructor, such as

int x = 1;

That's covered by section 4.1.4 of the C# Language Spec:

Most simple types permit values to be created by writing literals (§2.4.4). For example, 123 is a literal of type int