C# 0 The Complete Reference

PART I

C h a p t e r   8 :  

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PART IPART I

Static Classes

Beginning with C# 2.0, you can declare a class 

static

. There are two key features of a 

static

class. First, no object of a 

static

 class can be created. Second, a 

static

 class must contain only 

static

 members. A 

static

 class is created by modifying a class declaration with the keyword 

static

, shown here.

static class 

class

-

name

 { // ...

Within the cla ss, all members must be explicitly specified as 

static

. Making a class 

static

does not automatically make its members 

static

.

static

 classes have two primary uses. First, a 

static

 class is required when creating 

an

extension method,

 which is a new feature added by C# 3.0. Extension methods relate 

mostly to LINQ, and a discussion of extensions methods is found in Chapter 19. Second, 

a

static

 class is used to contain a collection of related 

static

 methods. This second use is 

demonstrated here.

The following example uses a