Remove static keyword from members of static classes

[osamakawish]

Since all the members of a static class must be static, is there a reason why the static keyword is still required and not just assumed?

(This sort of fits under ideas as well as Q&A equally.)

[Unknown6656]

Probably because adding or removing static from public [static] class MyClass { would break the existing static methods.
Imagine the following:

public static class MyClass
{
    int i = 24;
    
    static void M() => Console.WriteLine(i);
}

removing the static-keyword from the first line would break the following code (e.g. in an other class):

MyClass.i = 999;
MyClass.M();

[333fred]

Yep, this is the reasoning. It's to be more resilient to refactorings.

[osamakawish]

I tried this code:

public static class MyClass
{
    int i = 24;
    
    static void M() => Console.WriteLine(i);
}

and I get the same error as you would for trying to add a non-static member:

cannot declare instance member in a static class

so I'm not sure what the issue here is, as this is already "illegal" in C# right now.

I could be wrong, but all members in a static class have to be marked static. Which raises the question as to why it's not inferred instead.

Or is that line supposed to be the following?:

    static int i = 24

[osamakawish]

Ok nvm, I think I get the gist of your point.

[osamakawish]

But now I guess my question is: "If we're going to mark everything static anyways, what's the point in declaring a class as static"? With the exception of maybe static generics.

[333fred]

"If we're going to mark everything static anyways, what's the point in declaring a class as static"

To prevent you from instanciating the class. It's not intended to be stateful, it's intended to be static.