Question: I'm reading the book ["C# Language"](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0321741765), and hit this note from Vladimir Reshetnikov:

> 
> If a static class declares a protected or
>  protected internal member, a compile-time error occurs ([CS1057](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/misc/cs1057)).
> 
> 
> 

May I know why? 
What's wrong with a static class having a protected member?
Static class can have private member so I guess this CS1057 error is not due to accessibility, but maybe it's due to come compilation issue? as protected member could be overridden in child classes... but I couldn't figure out why.

Answer: 
Because you can't inherit a static class, `protected` serves no purpose - only `public` and `private` make sense here.

More details can be found here: [Why can't I inherit static classes?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/774181/why-cant-i-inherit-static-classes)
Inheritance in .NET works only on instance base. Static methods are defined on the type level not on the instance level. That is why overriding doesn't work with static methods/properties/events...

Static methods are only held once in memory. There is no virtual table etc. that is created for them. 

If you invoke an instance method in .NET, you always give it the current instance. This is hidden by the .NET runtime, but it happens. Each instance method has as first argument a pointer (reference) to the object that the method is run on. This doesn't happen with static methods (as they are defined on type level). How should the compiler decide to select the method to invoke?

(littleguru)