apply-singleton-pattern

Apply Singleton Pattern

Ensure a class has exactly one instance and provide a global access point to it.

Why This Is Best Practice

Adopted by: Spring Framework (default bean scope is singleton — the most-used Java framework, 65%+ of Java enterprise apps per JetBrains 2023 survey), Python's logging module (each getLogger(name) returns the same Logger instance for that name), Go's sync.Once (idiomatic Go singleton construction), and Java Runtime.getRuntime() (JVM runtime singleton, in every JVM since Java 1.0). Impact: GoF documents that uncontrolled global state causes initialization ordering bugs and duplicate resource allocation. Connection pools (HikariCP, the most-used Java connection pool) are singletons by necessity — two pools to the same DB double connections and break max-connection limits. Why best: The alternative — passing the shared instance everywhere via constructor (dependency injection) — is architecturally cleaner and preferred when testability matters. Singleton is correct when the instance is a true system-level resource (one config, one log system, one thread pool) and DI wiring overhead is unjustified.

Sources: Gamma et al. (1994) pp. 127–136; Spring Framework documentation (Bean scopes); Go sync.Once documentation; HikariCP design rationale

Steps

Step 1: Make the constructor private (or restrict it)

class Configuration:
    _instance: "Configuration | None" = None

    def __new__(cls) -> "Configuration":
        if cls._instance is None:
            cls._instance = super().__new__(cls)
            cls._instance._initialized = False
        return cls._instance

    def __init__(self):
        if self._initialized:
            return
        self._data: dict = {}
        self._initialized = True

Step 2: Use __new__ (Python) or getInstance() (Java/C++) as the access point

# All callers get the same instance
config1 = Configuration()
config2 = Configuration()
assert config1 is config2   # True

Step 3: Make thread-safe with a lock for lazy initialization

import threading

class ThreadSafeConfiguration:
    _instance = None
    _lock = threading.Lock()

    def __new__(cls):
        if cls._instance is None:
            with cls._lock:
                if cls._instance is None:   # double-checked locking
                    cls._instance = super().__new__(cls)
        return cls._instance

Double-checked locking avoids acquiring the lock on every access after initialization.

Step 4: Prefer module-level singletons in Python over class-based ones

Python modules are singletons by default — imported once, cached in sys.modules:

# config.py — the module IS the singleton
_data: dict = {}

def get(key: str):
    return _data[key]

def set(key: str, value):
    _data[key] = value

# caller
import config
config.set("debug", True)

Step 5: In test environments, provide a reset mechanism

@classmethod
def _reset(cls):
    cls._instance = None   # allow re-initialization in tests

Mark this method as test-only. Production code never calls it.

When NOT to Use

• When testability matters — Singletons that hold mutable state make tests order-dependent. Prefer dependency injection so tests can pass isolated instances.
• When multiple instances might ever be needed — a "singleton database" becomes a problem when you add a read replica. If the constraint might relax, use DI from the start.
• When it's just convenient global access — global variables and singletons have the same test and coupling problems. The pattern is justified only when one instance is a hard architectural constraint, not convenience.

Common Mistakes

Not guarding against subclassing. If the singleton class can be subclassed, a subclass can create a second instance. Use final (Java) or __init_subclass__ guards (Python) to prevent this.

Ignoring thread safety. A naive if not _instance: _instance = cls() has a race condition. Use sync.Once (Go), synchronized (Java), or double-checked locking (Python).

Using Singleton where Dependency Injection belongs. If the "singleton" needs to be swapped in tests, replaced in different environments, or extended, it's not a true singleton — it's a shared service that should be injected.