CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phplaraveldesign-patternssingleton
Jonathan
Jonathan

Reputation: 1071

Is the singleton pattern still bad when we talk about it in a framework context?

Using the singleton pattern is usually a code smell.

However, it seems that using "singletons" in a framework such as Laravel is a popular solution to a lot of problems.

It's also worth noting that singletons in Laravel aren't really the same thing as a singleton class in the following sense:

Am I correct in my understanding that what is called a singleton in Laravel isn't in fact a singleton, but an implementation inspired by the singleton pattern, and therefore isn't as much as a bad practice as a real singleton because it gets rid of some of the downsides (harder to test, global state...)?

This question is loosely related to this question about design patterns in PHP but it appeared appropriate to me to create a separate question.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 363

Answers (1)

tereško
tereško

Reputation: 58444

Yes, it is still bad. It is still an anti-pattern.

The fact, that you see many people resorting to this, simply indicate the flaws in any given system. It applies to applications, frameworks and libraries.

And saying that "our singletons are different" is just wrong. And, if you were writing proper unit tests, you would be testing your code in isolation, without having to initialize various parts of a framework.

P.S.
You seem to have wrong opinion of what "code smell" is. Code smell is when you have variables named $a1, $bzzzz, code smell is when your functions have 8 parameters. Anit-pattern is not a code smell. It is a mistake in architecture.

Upvotes: 1

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