Why can't I initialize readonly variables in a initializer?

Question

Why can\'t I initialize readonly variables in a initializer? The following doesn\'t work as it should:

class Foo
{
    public readonly int bar;
}

new Foo {          


        

Answer 1

I know this isn't a direct answer to the poster's question, but the newer version of C# now allows for direct initialization from the property itself as follows.

public int bar { get; set; } = 0;

Again, I'm aware this doesn't solve the readonly issue as identified (and solved) above.