C# two classes with static members referring to each other

Question

I wonder why this code doesn't end up in endless recursion. I guess it's connected to the automatic initialization of static members to default values, but can someone tell me "step by step" how does 'a' get the value of 2 and 'b' of 1?

public class A
{
    public static int a = B.b + 1;
}
public class B
{
    public static int b = A.a + 1;
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine("A.a={0}, B.b={1}", A.a, B.b); //A.a=2, B.b=1
    Console.Read();
}

Answer 1

I would suppose:

• A.a is queried, which causes the A static initializer to fire
• This accesses B.b, causing the B static initializer to fire
• A.a is queried; the type initializer is already activated (but no assignment has yet occurred), so the field (not yet assigned) is read as 0
• 0 + 1 is 1, which is assigned to B.b <===========================
• we now exit the B cctor and go back to the A cctor
• 1 + 1 is 2, which is assigned to A.a <===========================
• we now exit the A cctor
• 2 is returned (WriteLine) for A.a
• we query (on WriteLine) B.b; the cctor has already fired so we see 1