Primary Constructors in C#

public class Employee
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public DateTime HireDate { get; set; }
    public decimal Salary { get; set; }

    public Employee(string firstName, string lastName, DateTime hireDate, decimal salary)
    {
        FirstName = firstName;
        LastName = lastName;
        HireDate = hireDate;
        Salary = salary;
    }
}

What are Primary Constructors?

• With the introduction of the Primary Constructor in C# 12, it is now possible to create and initialize properties right in the constructor parameter list. Your code will be shorter and easier to understand thanks to this feature, which also reduces the need for repetitive code.

Using Primary Constructors

Let’s start with a primary constructor example utilizing the Employee class. Here is how you would create a Primary Constructor to define an Employee class:

public class Employee(string firstName, string lastName, DateTime hireDate, decimal salary)
{
    public string FirstName { get; init; } = firstName;
    public string LastName { get; init; } = lastName;
    public DateTime HireDate { get; init; } = hireDate;
    public decimal Salary { get; init; } = salary;
}

• The Employee class in this example has the following four properties: FirstName, Last Name, Hire Date, and Salary. Additionally, we made the properties read-only by using the init keyword, and we initialized them right inside the Primary Constructor’s argument list.

Here’s how you would create a new Employee object using the Primary Constructor.

var employee = new Employee("John", "Doe", new DateTime(2020, 1, 1), 50000);