default(MyStruct) vs new MyStruct() - what is the difference?

Since the beginning of .NET we have the default operator which basically gives us the default of the given type.

Console.Write(default(int)); // Prints 0
Console.Write(default(DateTime)); // Prints 01/01/0001 00:00:00
Console.Write(default(string)); // Prints nothing as the default of every reference type is null

For Value Types but more specific for structs you could also do the same with the new operator:

Console.Write(new int()); // Prints 0
Console.Write(new DateTime()); // Prints 01/01/0001 00:00:00

Now nothing fancy, unless we will bring C# 10 into the game: C# 10 brought us parameterless constructors and field initializers. So how does the following console output look like?

new MyStruct().PrintToConsole();
default(MyStruct).PrintToConsole();


public struct MyStruct
{
    private int anyNumber;
	
    public MyStruct()
    {
        anyNumber = 10;
    }
	
    public void PrintToConsole() => System.Console.WriteLine($"My number is: {anyNumber}");
}

Two "10"s in seperate rows, not? No. The correct output is: 10 and 0. And the reason is simple: default does not call any constructor when it comes down to structs. It doesn't have to do this in the first place. Therefore every field / property will be also initialized with its default values. You can see this in action if you extend the c'tor of our struct with a Console.WriteLine like this:

var a = new MyStruct();
var b = default(MyStruct);

public struct MyStruct
{	
    public MyStruct()
    {
	System.Console.Write("Hey, I was called");
    }
}

And only the new MyStruct() is printing something out. So be aware with C# 10 that default(MyStruct) is not always the same as new MyStruct().