c# - Initializing list property without "new List" causes NullReferenceException

Question

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Parent
{
   public Child Child { get; set; }
}

class Child
{
   public List<string> Strings { get; set; }
}

static class Program
{
   static void Main() {
      // bad object initialization
      var parent = new Parent() {
         Child = {
            Strings = { "hello", "world" }
         }
      };
   }
}

The above program compiles fine, but crashes at runtime with Object reference not set to an instance of the object.

If you notice in the above snippet, I have omitted new while initializing the child properties.

Obviously the correct way to initialize is:

      var parent = new Parent() {
         Child = new Child() {
            Strings = new List<string> { "hello", "world" }
         }
      };

My question is why does the C# compiler not complain when it sees the first construct?

Why is the broken initialization valid syntax?

      var parent = new Parent() {
         Child = {
            Strings = { "hello", "world" }
         }
      };

Answer 1

It's not broken syntax, it's you who uses an object initializer on a property that's simply not instantiated. What you wrote can be expanded to

var parent = new Parent();
parent.Child.Strings = new List<string> { "hello", "world" };

Which throws the NullReferenceException: you're trying to assign the property Strings contained by the property Child while Child is still null. Using a constructor to instantiate Child first, takes care of this.