What are the best practices for Private Member Instantiation/Initialization? [duplicate]

Answer 1

For the int, you don't have to do it at all, intrinsic types are initialized to default() - which, for int's is 0.

As for object, it's a matter of taste imo. I prefer the former. If someone is overriding my constructor, I expect them to call base() to construct it in a proper state.

Answer 2

I prefer the second and in some cases it depends on your coding standards. But consider the processing sequence:

target class field initialization -> base class field initialization -> base class constructor -> target class constructor

if the base class or target class has an exception creating the object and the fields are preinitialized it will have a value at finalization and may cause some unexpected problems.

See also this blog by Bill Simser Best Practices and Member Initialization in C#