Interesting, as always Adam. I have a question about class example. Why are there shared members? You need instance of the class to use it, so wouldn't it be the same, if you just have:

    'Public Shared ReadOnly Zero As Example
    Public ReadOnly Value As Integer

    'Shared Sub New()
    '    Zero = New Example(0)
    'End Sub

    Public Sub New(Value As Integer)
        Me.Value = Value
    End Sub
End Class

How do you use Shared Sub New from outside?

You got my attention now, with Color there! :)

I think there's no need for shared constructor, because you can have the same effect with (let's build on this color example):

Public Class Colors
    Public ReadOnly A As Byte
    Public ReadOnly R As Byte
    Public ReadOnly G As Byte
    Public ReadOnly B As Byte
    Public ReadOnly Name As String

    Public Sub New(ByVal red As Byte,
                   ByVal green As Byte,
                   ByVal blue As Byte,
                   Optional ByVal alpha As Byte = 255,
                   Optional colorName As String = "")
        A = alpha
        R = red
        G = green
        B = blue
        Name = colorName
    End Sub

    Public Shared ReadOnly White As New Colors(255, 255, 255, 255, "White")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Yellow As New Colors(255, 255, 0, 255, "Yellow")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Red As New Colors(255, 0, 0, 255, "Red")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Gray As New Colors(128, 128, 128, 255, "Gray")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Purple As New Colors(128, 0, 128, 255, "Purple")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Green As New Colors(0, 128, 0, 255, "Green")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Blue As New Colors(0, 0, 255, 255, "Blue")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Brown As New Colors(128, 0, 0, 255, "Brown")
    Public Shared ReadOnly Black As New Colors(0, 0, 0, 255, "Black")
End Class

and you can just use it: Dim x1 = Colors.Red

If you use shared constructor, then the class would look something like:

Public Class ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public ReadOnly A As Byte
    Public ReadOnly R As Byte
    Public ReadOnly G As Byte
    Public ReadOnly B As Byte
    Public ReadOnly Name As String

    Public Shared ReadOnly White As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Yellow As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Red As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Gray As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Purple As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Green As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Blue As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Brown As ColorsWithSharedConstructor
    Public Shared ReadOnly Black As ColorsWithSharedConstructor

    Shared Sub New()
        White = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(255, 255, 255, 255, "White")
        Yellow = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(255, 255, 0, 255, "Yellow")
        Red = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(255, 0, 0, 255, "Red")
        Gray = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(128, 128, 128, 255, "Gray")
        Purple = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(128, 0, 128, 255, "Purple")
        Green = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(0, 128, 0, 255, "Green")
        Blue = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(0, 0, 255, 255, "Blue")
        Brown = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(128, 0, 0, 255, "Brown")
        Black = New ColorsWithSharedConstructor(0, 0, 0, 255, "Black")
    End Sub

    Public Sub New(ByVal red As Byte,
                  ByVal green As Byte,
                  ByVal blue As Byte,
                  Optional ByVal alpha As Byte = 255,
                  Optional colorName As String = "")
        Me.A = alpha
        Me.R = red
        Me.G = green
        Me.B = blue
        Me.Name = colorName
    End Sub
End Class

In each case, what bothers me, is when you use variable x1 from declaration example above, you have all the shared fields available, and it is somehow strange to have something like: Dim x1 = Colors.Red.White.Yellow. But then again, the same is with "real" Color structure. You can have Dim red As System.Drawing.Color = Color.Red.Violet.Blue.Black.Turquoise.Yellow (and you have Yellow instead of Red). I didn't know that System.Drawing.Color uses the same principle, and I was shocked, when I looked at "live" variable red, and saw all other colors available in it. So I went with another line of code: Dim black = red.Black, and besides a warning, it works. Is there no better way of having all the predefined specific color values with names inside a class/structure, and when used "live", have just those properties available, as one would expect and need to use? If programmer declares Dim red As System.Drawing.Color = Color.Red, probably wouldn't expect to see and use red.Black, because in my opinion, it doesn't make much sense.