Difference between singleton and static class ?

[Praveen Kumar]

Please tell me what are the difference and when i need to go for singleton and static class ?

[fred rosenberger]

They are not even close to the same thing.

A singleton is when you only want to allow and object to be instantiated ONCE. If you need some kind of gatekeeper that everyone talks to, so that all decisions are made by one person. Note: This is probably the most over-used (and possibly mis-used) design pattern.

A static class is used when you don't need ANY objects to be created. The Math class is a classic example. I don't need an actual Math object, I just need to be able to call the methods. There is no state that needs to be saved, so no object is needed.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Is that a static class? I would have called it a utility class.
So what is a static class (apart from a kind of nested class)?

[Praveen Kumar]

Sorry ... I mean

Class X {


public static X getInstance() {

returns X;

}

[Jesper de Jong]

That looks like part of how you would implement a singleton in Java.

What do you mean by a "static class"? You cannot make a top-level class static. You can make nested classes static, which means that instances of the nested class don't have a reference to the object of the enclosing class. That, however, doesn't have anything to do with singletons.

[fred rosenberger]

 

Campbell Ritchie wrote:Is that a static class? I would have called it a utility class.
So what is a static class (apart from a kind of nested class)?

Sorry...I was thinking of the Math class, where all the methods are static. I assumed that's what the OP meant, but I now realize I am probably wrong.