Design Patterns Simplified: Mastering Singletons in C#

Introduction

Imagine you are in a small office with five people, but there is only one printer. Everyone shares that same printer to get their work done. You wouldn't buy a brand-new printer every time someone wants to print a single page; that would be a waste of money and space.

In programming, the Singleton Design Pattern works exactly like that office printer. It ensures that a class has only one instance (one "printer") and provides a single point of access to it for the entire application.

Why Use the Singleton Pattern?

Sometimes, creating multiple copies of an object is inefficient or even dangerous. You use a Singleton when you need to manage a shared resource, such as:

• Database Connections: You don't want to open 100 different connections for 100 users.

• Configuration Settings: Your app should read settings from one central place.

• Logging: All parts of your app should write to the same log file.

Implementation Example

In C#, we implement a Singleton by making the constructor private (so no one else can create it) and providing a static property to access the single instance.

public sealed class DatabaseConnection
{
    // 1. The single instance is stored here
    private static DatabaseConnection _instance = null;
    private static readonly object _lock = new object();

    // 2. Private constructor prevents others from using "new"
    private DatabaseConnection() 
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Connected to Database.");
    }

    // 3. The only way to get the object
    public static DatabaseConnection Instance
    {
        get
        {
            // Thread-safety: prevents two threads from creating two instances
            lock (_lock)
            {
                if (_instance == null)
                {
                    _instance = new DatabaseConnection();
                }
                return _instance;
            }
        }
    }

    public void Query(string sql) => Console.WriteLine($"Executing: {sql}");
}

Key Advantages

• Saves Memory: Since only one object is ever created, you don't waste RAM on duplicate data.

• Global Access: Any part of your code can easily reach the instance without passing it through every method.

• Controlled Access: You have total control over when the instance is created and how it is used.

• Avoids Conflicts: It prevents different parts of the app from fighting over the same file or resource at the same time.

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen how the Singleton Pattern ensures that critical resources are managed through a single, shared instance. By using a private constructor and a thread-safe access point, you can build .NET applications that are more efficient and prevent the chaos of redundant objects.