Why can t I have public static const string S stuff in my Class

Question

When trying to compile my class I get an error        The constant  NamespaceName ClassName CONST NAME  cannot be marked static    at the line   public static const string CONST NAME    blah     I could do this all of the time in Java   What am I doing wrong   And why doesn t it let me do this

User · Accepted Answer

A const object is always static

User · Answer

A const member is considered static by the compiler  as well as implying constant value semantics  which means references to the constant might be compiled into the using code as the value of the constant member  instead of a reference to the member   In other words  a const member containing the value 10  might get compiled into code that uses it as the number 10  instead of a reference to the const member   This is different from a static readonly field  which will always be compiled as a reference to the field   Note  this is pre-JIT  When the JIT ter comes into play  it might compile both these into the target code as values

User · Answer

A const member is considered static by the compiler  as well as implying constant value semantics  which means references to the constant might be compiled into the using code as the value of the constant member  instead of a reference to the member   In other words  a const member containing the value 10  might get compiled into code that uses it as the number 10  instead of a reference to the const member   This is different from a static readonly field  which will always be compiled as a reference to the field   Note  this is pre-JIT  When the JIT ter comes into play  it might compile both these into the target code as values

User · Answer

From the C  language specification  PDF page 287 - or 300th page of the PDF       Even though constants are considered   static members  a constant   declaration neither requires nor   allows a static modifier

User · Answer

From MSDN  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library acdd6hb7 aspx      Also  while a const field is a compile-time constant  the readonly field can be used for runtime constants     So using static in const fields is like trying to make a defined  with  define  static in C C      Since it is replaced with its value in compile-time of course it is initiated once for all instances   static

User · Answer

From the C  language specification  PDF page 287 - or 300th page of the PDF       Even though constants are considered   static members  a constant   declaration neither requires nor   allows a static modifier

User · Answer

From MSDN  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library acdd6hb7 aspx      Also  while a const field is a compile-time constant  the readonly field can be used for runtime constants     So using static in const fields is like trying to make a defined  with  define  static in C C      Since it is replaced with its value in compile-time of course it is initiated once for all instances   static

User · Answer

A const member is considered static by the compiler  as well as implying constant value semantics  which means references to the constant might be compiled into the using code as the value of the constant member  instead of a reference to the member   In other words  a const member containing the value 10  might get compiled into code that uses it as the number 10  instead of a reference to the const member   This is different from a static readonly field  which will always be compiled as a reference to the field   Note  this is pre-JIT  When the JIT ter comes into play  it might compile both these into the target code as values

User · Answer

From the C  language specification  PDF page 287 - or 300th page of the PDF       Even though constants are considered   static members  a constant   declaration neither requires nor   allows a static modifier

User · Answer

C  s const is the exact same thing as Java s final  except it s absolutely always static  In my opinion  it s not really necessary for a const variable to be non-static  but if you need to access a const variable non-static-ly  you can do   class MyClass           private const int myLowercase Private Const Int   0      public const int MyUppercase Public Const Int   0                        You can have the  private const int  lowercase        and the  public int  Uppercase             public int MyLowercase Private Const Int               get                       return MyClass myLowercase Private Const Int                                  Or you can have the  public const int  uppercase        and the  public int  slighly altered        i e  an underscore preceding the name              public int  MyUppercase Public Const Int               get                       return MyClass MyUppercase Public Const Int                                 Or you can have the  public const int  uppercase        and get the  public int  with a  Get  method             public int Get MyUppercase Public Const Int                 return MyClass MyUppercase Public Const Int                Well  now I realize this question was asked 4 years ago  but since I put around 2 hours of work  consisting of trying all sorts of different ways of answering and code formatting   into this answer  I m still posting it      But  for the record  I still feel kinda silly

User · Answer

A const member is considered static by the compiler  as well as implying constant value semantics  which means references to the constant might be compiled into the using code as the value of the constant member  instead of a reference to the member   In other words  a const member containing the value 10  might get compiled into code that uses it as the number 10  instead of a reference to the const member   This is different from a static readonly field  which will always be compiled as a reference to the field   Note  this is pre-JIT  When the JIT ter comes into play  it might compile both these into the target code as values

User · Answer

const is similar to static we can access both varables with class name but diff is  static variables can be modified and const can not

User · Answer

const is similar to static we can access both varables with class name but diff is  static variables can be modified and const can not

User · Answer

C  s const is the exact same thing as Java s final  except it s absolutely always static  In my opinion  it s not really necessary for a const variable to be non-static  but if you need to access a const variable non-static-ly  you can do   class MyClass           private const int myLowercase Private Const Int   0      public const int MyUppercase Public Const Int   0                        You can have the  private const int  lowercase        and the  public int  Uppercase             public int MyLowercase Private Const Int               get                       return MyClass myLowercase Private Const Int                                  Or you can have the  public const int  uppercase        and the  public int  slighly altered        i e  an underscore preceding the name              public int  MyUppercase Public Const Int               get                       return MyClass MyUppercase Public Const Int                                 Or you can have the  public const int  uppercase        and get the  public int  with a  Get  method             public int Get MyUppercase Public Const Int                 return MyClass MyUppercase Public Const Int                Well  now I realize this question was asked 4 years ago  but since I put around 2 hours of work  consisting of trying all sorts of different ways of answering and code formatting   into this answer  I m still posting it      But  for the record  I still feel kinda silly

User · Answer

From the C  language specification  PDF page 287 - or 300th page of the PDF       Even though constants are considered   static members  a constant   declaration neither requires nor   allows a static modifier

[c#] Why can't I have "public static const string S = "stuff"; in my Class?

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