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digitalmars.D - Static Initializors

reply Benji Smith <dlanguage xxagg.com> writes:
I've been writing a lot of java code recently, and I've found myself
wanting something analagous to a constructor, but for the static data
in a class. Instead, I've been littering all of my static methods with
a call to a private static initialize() method.

It looks like this:

public static void myFunciton() {
	if (!MyClass.initialized) {
		MyClass.initialize();
	}
	...do stuff...
}

public static void myOtherFunciton() {
	if (!MyClass.initialized) {
		MyClass.initialize();
	}
	...do stuff...
}

private static void initialize() {
	...set up static variables, connect to resources, etc...
}

Much in the same way that a constructor fires on the creation of new
objects, I'd like to have a compiler-recognized static initialization
function, automatically called (only once) whenever any static method
(or static field?) is called for the first time.

Hmmmmm.....come to think of it, I've been creating classes full of
static methods when I should be using a singleton object. Is there
much of an argument for adding the notion of singletons into the
language itself, or do you think singletons should be implemented in a
library?

Nevertheless, even if I should be using a singleton for the stuff I'm
doing right now, what do you think of the concept of an
automatically-called static initializor function?

--Benji Smith
Jun 21 2004
next sibling parent reply Hauke Duden <H.NS.Duden gmx.net> writes:
Benji Smith wrote:

 Nevertheless, even if I should be using a singleton for the stuff I'm
 doing right now, what do you think of the concept of an
 automatically-called static initializor function?


My thought is that it's already in there! ;)

See "Static constructors" in
http://www.digitalmars.com/d/class.html

Hauke
Jun 21 2004
parent reply Benji Smith <dlanguage xxagg.com> writes:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 01:06:20 +0200, in digitalmars.D you wrote:


My thought is that it's already in there! ;)
 
 See "Static constructors" in
 http://www.digitalmars.com/d/class.html
 
 Hauke


Hot damn. That's exactly what I was thinking of. I'm glad to see that
it already exists (but I don't ever remember any discussion of it
here.

One thing that piques my curiosity, though, is this phrase:


 static this() is called by the startup code before main() is called


If that's the case, what about classes loaded from a DLL during
runtime. Obviously, their static constructors can't be called before
the beginning of the main() function. I'd expect all of the static
initializers from all of the classes in the loaded library to be
called immediately after the library was loaded. Is that the case?

--Benji Smith
Jun 21 2004
parent (pragma) EricAnderton at yahoo dot com <(pragma)_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <o6ved0li4m6i4t0m835bfhfb2ali4tbi3i 4ax.com>, Benji Smith says...

One thing that piques my curiosity, though, is this phrase:


 static this() is called by the startup code before main() is called


If that's the case, what about classes loaded from a DLL during
runtime. Obviously, their static constructors can't be called before
the beginning of the main() function. I'd expect all of the static
initializers from all of the classes in the loaded library to be
called immediately after the library was loaded. Is that the case?

--Benji Smith


Benji,
That's exactly how it happpens, provided you build your .dll correctly.

Take a look here, there's an example of how DllMain is composed for .dll's:

http://www.digitalmars.com/d/windows.html

(pipes inserted to preserve spacing)
|case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH:
|   gc_init();			// initialize GC
|   _minit();			// initialize module list
|   _moduleCtor();		// run module constructors
|   _moduleUnitTests();		// run module unit tests
|   break;

From my own observations, the call to _moduleCtor() pretty much takes care of
the module's construction needs.  This includes any "static this(){}" calls as
well.

Happy hunting.
Jun 21 2004
prev sibling next sibling parent reply Trejkaz Xaoza <trejkaz xaoza.net> writes:
Not meaning to be annoying, but this is niggling me at the moment...

You're not implying that such a thing doesn't exist in Java, are you?  Because
obviously Java can do:
    static {
        //...
    }

Which works the same as D's:
    static init() {
        //...
    }

Your post doesn't make it overly clear whether the code you're writing is Java
or D, though it looks like Java at first glance which is why I'm a little
concerned about the way you did this. :-)

TX

In article <aroed09oko3967j2r0lho1n67ggf0te194 4ax.com>, Benji Smith says...

I've been writing a lot of java code recently, and I've found myself
wanting something analagous to a constructor, but for the static data
in a class. Instead, I've been littering all of my static methods with
a call to a private static initialize() method.
Jun 21 2004
parent Benji Smith <dlanguage xxagg.com> writes:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 05:38:01 +0000 (UTC), Trejkaz Xaoza
<trejkaz xaoza.net> wrote:


Not meaning to be annoying, but this is niggling me at the moment...

You're not implying that such a thing doesn't exist in Java, are you?  Because
obviously Java can do:
    static {
        //...
    }


Yeah, the code I was writing was Java. And I actually didn't know
about this construct. How could I possibly have missed that? I've been
programming Java for two years (after several years programming perl,
VB, and various web languages).

Thanks for the tip.

Please resume your normal non-idiotic, non-time-wasting, newsgroup
activities....

Sheepishly,

--BenjiSmith
Jun 22 2004
prev sibling parent "Matthew" <admin stlsoft.dot.dot.dot.dot.org> writes:
"Benji Smith" <dlanguage xxagg.com> wrote in message
news:aroed09oko3967j2r0lho1n67ggf0te194 4ax.com...

 I've been writing a lot of java code recently, and I've found myself
 wanting something analagous to a constructor, but for the static data
 in a class. Instead, I've been littering all of my static methods with
 a call to a private static initialize() method.

 It looks like this:

 public static void myFunciton() {
 if (!MyClass.initialized) {
 MyClass.initialize();
 }
 ...do stuff...
 }

 public static void myOtherFunciton() {
 if (!MyClass.initialized) {
 MyClass.initialize();
 }
 ...do stuff...
 }

 private static void initialize() {
 ...set up static variables, connect to resources, etc...
 }

 Much in the same way that a constructor fires on the creation of new
 objects, I'd like to have a compiler-recognized static initialization
 function, automatically called (only once) whenever any static method
 (or static field?) is called for the first time.


They exist in both D and Java.


 Hmmmmm.....come to think of it, I've been creating classes full of
 static methods when I should be using a singleton object. Is there
 much of an argument for adding the notion of singletons into the
 language itself, or do you think singletons should be implemented in a
 library?

 Nevertheless, even if I should be using a singleton for the stuff I'm
 doing right now, what do you think of the concept of an
 automatically-called static initializor function?


IMHO, D's static initialiser functionality obviates most needs for the much
abused Singleton pattern. In most cases you can, and should, simply use free
functions from a module, within which reside the shared "static" data.
Jun 22 2004