Static Classes

Up to this point, classes have been considered non-static classes. These classes were used to create instances of the type.

Static classes are like non-static classes, except you cannot create instances of the type and the class cannot contain any instance members. A static class can only contain static class members.

Declaring a Static Class

To declare a static class, you will use the static keyword.

C#

public static class Math
{

}

Declaring Static Class Members

Static classes cannot contain instance members, only static members or constants.

C#

public static class Math
{
    public const double PI = 3.1415;

    public static int Minimum(int a, int b)
    {

    }
}

Using Static Classes

To reference members of a static class, you must use the class identifier with dot notation.

C#

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(Math.PI);

        Console.WriteLine(Math.Minimum(3, 5));
    }
}

Further Reading

• Static Classes and Static Class Members