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Understanding the Singleton Pattern

The singleton design pattern ensures that only one instance of a class can exist at any time, and provides a global point of access to that instance. It hides the constructor to prevent external instantiation, and defines a static getInstance() method that returns the sole instance of the class, controlling its instantiation and restricting the number of instances that can be created.

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12 views1 page

Understanding the Singleton Pattern

The singleton design pattern ensures that only one instance of a class can exist at any time, and provides a global point of access to that instance. It hides the constructor to prevent external instantiation, and defines a static getInstance() method that returns the sole instance of the class, controlling its instantiation and restricting the number of instances that can be created.

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The singleton[4] design pattern is one of the twenty-three well-known "Gang of Four" design

patterns that describe how to solve recurring design problems to design flexible and reusable object-
oriented software, that is, objects that are easier to implement, change, test, and reuse.
The singleton design pattern solves problems like:[5]

 How can it be ensured that a class has only one instance?


 How can the sole instance of a class be accessed easily?
 How can a class control its instantiation?
 How can the number of instances of a class be restricted?
The singleton design pattern describes how to solve such problems:

 Hide the constructor of the class.


 Define a public static operation ( getInstance() ) that returns the sole instance of the class.
The key idea in this pattern is to make the class itself responsible for controlling its instantiation (that
it is instantiated only once).
The hidden constructor (declared private) ensures that the class can never be instantiated from
outside the class.
The public static operation can be accessed easily by using the class name and operation name
( [Link]() ).

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