Difference Between Singleton and static class

Singleton Pattern

A Singleton pattern is a type of pattern that is related to a creational type pattern. As it is identified from its name,i.e creational pattern means it works with object creation mechanisms. In simple words, we can say that it creates objects in a way that is suitable for a particular condition.

When there is a requirement to make sure that only a single object of a class needs to be instantiated then in this condition we use a singleton pattern. It is the responsibility of this created single instance to coordinate all the actions in the whole application.

Advantages

• Concurrent access to the resource is controlled by the singleton.
• It is the responsibility of singleton to ensure that there is an availability of only a single object in the controlled state in the whole application. To learn more about the singleton class, you can check out this Java tutorial.

Implementation

The existence of only one instance of the class is ensured.

Example:

• Java program for more clear understanding of the difference between static class and the singleton class
• This program mainly focuses on the example of the singleton pattern
• Java Program to illustrate the Difference Between import java.io.*;
• Creating class 1 with the name SingletonEagar

class SingletonEagar {
    // simultaneously occurring variable declaration and definition
    private static SingletonEagar instance = new SingletonEagar();

    // class1 private constructor    
     private SingletonEagar () {}
    // define a method for returning the instance of the class1
    public static SingletonEagar getInstance() {
        return instance;
    }
}

• Creating the class with the name Singleton

class Singleton {
    private static Singleton instance;

    // class2 i.e . Singleton class private constructor.
    private Singleton() { }
    //returning an instance 
    public static Singleton getInstance() {
        //check the condition 
        // creates a singleton class new object
        // if the instance is null
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new Singleton();
        }
        //returning the instance
        return instance;
    }
}

• Creating the class with the name SingletonSynchronizedMethod

class SingletonSynchronizedMethod {

    private static SingletonSynchronizedMethod instance;

    // class3 i.e . SingletonSynchronizedMethodclass private constructor.

    private SingletonSynchronizedMethod() { }
    //returning an instance 

    public static synchronized SingletonSynchronizedMethod
    getInstance() {

        //check the condition 
        // creates SingletonSynchronizedMethod class new object
        // if the instance is null
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new SingletonSynchronizedMethod();
        }
        //returning an instance
        return instance;

    }
}

• Creating the class with the name SingletonSynchronized

class SingletonSynchronized {

    private static SingletonSynchronized instance;

    // class3 i.e . SingletonSynchronized private constructor.

    private SingletonSynchronized() { }
    //returning an instance 

    public static SingletonSynchronized getInstance() {

        // check the condition again
        if (instance == null) {


            synchronized(SingletonSynchronized.class)
            {
                //checking whether the instance is null or not
                if (instance == null) {
                    instance = new SingletonSynchronized();
                }
            }
        }
        //returning an instance
        return instance;
    }
}

// Class 5
// Main class (SingletonExample)
public class Main {

    // Main driver method
    public static void main(String[] args) {

    // create an instance of class 1 in the main method

          SingletonEagar instance1 = SingletonEagar.getInstance();
         // printing only message only
        System.out.println( instance1 + " : Singleton Eager initialisation ");
         //create an instance of class 2 in the main method
        Singleton instance2 = Singleton.getInstance();
        // printing only message 
        System.out.println(instance2 + " : Singleton Lazy initialisation ");
        //create an instance of class 4 in the main method
         SingletonSynchronized instance3 = SingletonSynchronized.getInstance();
        // printing only message 
        System.out.println(instance3 + " : Synchronized Singleton");
    }
}

Output

SingletonEagar@4ca8195f : Singleton Eager initialisation 
Singleton@61baa894 : Singleton Lazy initialisation 
SingletonSynchronized@768debd : Synchronized Singleton

Static Class

The nested classes that are declared static are known as static nested classes. The static class is a method of grouping different classes in java. The creation of static classes top-level is not allowed in java, it allows only nested classes. So, we can say that a static class is also defined as a static inner class or static nested class.

Also read - Static Method

Advantages

If we make the class static then it is possible to define the related or helper class within the class. An object reference can be used by it to access the private member of the enclosing class. The facility of a good namespace is provided by the static class for the nested class.

If the enclosing class is updated then after it, it is possible to update the static class even at the same location.

The static class is not loaded on loading of its enclosing class but it is loaded by the classloader at the first usage only.

Implementation

A static class can only be defined as an inner class or a nested class.

Just like other static members, all types of access modifiers such as private, public, protected or default can be used by static classes. Only the static members of its enclosing class accessed are allowed to the static class.

The static class is not able to directly access the non-static members of its enclosing class, so for this purpose, it uses the object of its enclosing class so that it can also interact with the non-static members.

Example

// Java program for more clear understanding of the difference between the singleton pattern and static class
// This java program mainly illustrates the example of the static class
// Classes import for the input-output
import java.io.*;
// creating the class with the class1 and it acts as a helper class
class Main {
    // declaring an integer type variable and assigning it the value
    static int a = 20;
    public static void print() {
        System.out.println(a);
    }
    // creating the second class as the inner static class
    // it is allowed to access all the static data members and methods of the outer class
    // but it can not access the non-static data members of the outer class.
    static class InnerClass{
    // inner class constructor
    InnerClass(){
        //printing the message
        System.out.println("Inside the constructor of the InnerClass");
        // displaying the value of the variable 'a' in the inner static class
        System.out.println("'a' value inside the inner static class:" + a);
    }
}
// main method
public static void main(String[] args)
{
    // displaying the value of the variables inside the main method of the class
    System.out.println(Main.a);
    // calling the method print
    Main.print();
    // creating an object of the inner static class
    Main.InnerClass myObj = new Main.InnerClass();
}
}

Output

20
20
Inside the constructor of the InnerClass
‘a’ value inside the inner static class:20

Difference Between Singleton Pattern and Static Class