Are C# auto-implemented static properties thread-safe?

c# static thread-safety properties automatic-properties
Miguel Angelo picture Miguel Angelo · Jan 15, 2010 · Viewed 10.7k times · Source

I would like to know if C# automatically implemented properties, like public static T Prop { get; set; }, are thread-safe or not. Thanks!

Answer

Eric Lippert picture Eric Lippert · Jan 15, 2010

Section 10.7.4 of the C# specification states:

When a property is specified as an automatically implemented property, a hidden backing field is automatically available for the property, and the accessors are implemented to read from and write to that backing field. The following example:

public class Point {
  public int X { get; set; } // automatically implemented
  public int Y { get; set; } // automatically implemented
}

is equivalent to the following declaration:

public class Point {
  private int x;
  private int y;
  public int X { get { return x; } set { x = value; } }
  public int Y { get { return y; } set { y = value; } }
}

That's what we promise, and that's what you get. The point of auto properties is to do the most basic, simple, cheap thing; if you want to do something fancier then you should write a "real" property.

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