In the context of generics, default initializes generic types with their default values.
The default value for a reference type is null and the default value of a value type is bitwise zero.
using System; class Program//w w w . j a v a 2s.co m { static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine("default(int) is {0}", default(int));//0 bool b1 = (default(int) == null);//False Console.WriteLine("default(int) is null ?Answer: {0}", b1); Console.WriteLine("default(string) is {0}", default(string)); //null bool b2 = (default(string) == null);//True Console.WriteLine("default(string) is null ? Answer:{0}", b2); } }