Java – How to use Singleton Class ?

The class’s default constructor is made private, which prevents the direct instantiation of the object by others (Other Classes). A static modifier is applied to the instance method that returns the object as it then makes this method a class level method that can be accessed without creating an object.

Eager initialization:

This is a design pattern where an instance of a class is created much before it is actually required. Mostly it is done on system start up. In singleton pattern, it refers to create the singleton instance irrespective of whether any other class actually asked for its instance or not.

The private field can be assigned from within a static initializer block or, more simply, using an initializer. The getInstance( ) method (which must be public) then simply returns this instance:

public class EagerSingleton {
    private static volatile EagerSingleton instance = new EagerSingleton();
 
    // private constructor
    private EagerSingleton() {
    }
 
    public synchronized static EagerSingleton getInstance() {
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new EagerSingleton();
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

Above method works fine, but has one performance drawback. The getInstance() method is synchronized and each call will require extra locking/unlocking steps which are necessary only for first time, and never there after.

Lets solve above problem in next method.

Lazy initialization:

In computer programming, lazy initialization is the tactic of delaying the creation of an object, the calculation of a value, or some other expensive process until the first time it is needed. In singleton pattern, it restricts the creation of instance until requested first time. Lets see in code:

public final class LazySingleton {
    private static volatile LazySingleton instance = null;
 
    // private constructor
    private LazySingleton() {
    }
 
    public static LazySingleton getInstance() {
        if (instance == null) {
            synchronized (LazySingleton.class) {
                instance = new LazySingleton();
            }
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

On first invocation, above method will check if instance is already created using instance variable. If there is no instance i.e. instance is null, it will create an instance and will return its reference. If instance is already created, it will simply return the reference of instance.

But, this method also has its own drawbacks. Lets see how. Suppose there are two threads T1 and T2. Both comes to create instance and execute “instance==null“, now both threads have identified instance variable to null thus assume they must create an instance. They sequentially goes to synchronized block and create the instances. At the end, we have two instances in our application.

This error can be solved using double-checked locking. This principle tells us to recheck the instance variable again in synchronized block in given below way:

public class EagerSingleton {
    private static volatile EagerSingleton instance = null;
 
    // private constructor
    private EagerSingleton() {
    }
 
    public static EagerSingleton getInstance() {
        if (instance == null) {
            synchronized (EagerSingleton.class) {
                // Double check
                if (instance == null) {
                    instance = new EagerSingleton();
                }
            }
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

Above code is the correct implementation of singleton pattern.

Please ensure to use “volatile” keyword with instance variable otherwise you can run into out of order write error scenario, where reference of instance is returned before actually the object is constructed i.e. JVM has only allocated the memory and constructor code is still not executed. In this case, your other thread, which refer to uninitialized object may throw null pointer exception and can even crash the whole application.

Static block initialization:

If you have little idea about class loading sequence, you can connect to the fact that static blocks are executed during the loading of class and even before the constructor is called. We can use this feature in our singleton pattern also like this:

public class StaticBlockSingleton {
    private static final StaticBlockSingleton INSTANCE;
 
    static {
        try {
            INSTANCE = new StaticBlockSingleton();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Uffff, i was not expecting this!", e);
        }
    }
 
    public static StaticBlockSingleton getInstance() {
        return INSTANCE;
    }
 
    private StaticBlockSingleton() {
        // ...
    }
}

Above code has one drawback. Suppose there are 5 static fields in class and application code needs to access only 2 or 3, for which instance creation is not required at all. So, if we use this static initialization. we will have one instance created though we require it or not.

Next section will overcome this problem.

Bill pugh solution:

Bill pugh was main force behind java memory model changes. His principle “Initialization-on-demand holder idiom” also uses static block but in different way. It suggest to use static inner class.

public class BillPughSingleton {
    private BillPughSingleton() {
    }
 
    private static class LazyHolder {
        private static final BillPughSingleton INSTANCE = new BillPughSingleton();
    }
 
    public static BillPughSingletongetInstance() {
        return LazyHolder.INSTANCE;
    }
}

As you can see, until we need an instance, the LazyHolder class will not be initialized until required and you can still use other static members of BillPughSingleton class