Default empty delegate “no-op” event

Assigning a default empty delegate to an event on declaration like so

public event EventHandler FooEvent = delegate { };

+ Cannot cause a NullReferenceException by doing FooEvent(sender, args), as always at least one event subscriber

+ No need for null check, which makes code intent clearer

– Uses extra memory to create this empty event handler which is always called but never does anything useful

– Bypasses well known code pattern, which may confuse people later

if (FooEvent != null)

{

    FooEvent(this, BarArgs);

}