Use of Static methods in Utility Class

Is the use of static method in Utility classes a good idea? If not then what are other better ways to write utility methods?

I am not too fond of using singleton classes or static methods. Would appreciate your suggestions.

Regards,
Sachin Deokar

What is it that you don't like about utility classes and/or static methods?

... Jim ...

Sachin Deokar wrote:Is the use of static method in Utility classes a good idea? If not then what are other better ways to write utility methods?

I am not too fond of using singleton classes or static methods. Would appreciate your suggestions.

Regards,
Sachin Deokar

May I know why are you not too fond of using singleton pattern or static method?

sorry .. let me correct myself .. I dont like over use of static methods. In my last project I ended up using one too many. Thought I would ask you guys If there was any other good alternative to write utility classes.

Sachin

It depends on code requirement

Suppose if you need only single instance then use singleton pattern.
If your code requirement satisfied by static utility method then why are you using instance method? For instance method you need instance of an object.
For example if you need polymorphism then you should use instance method.

http://www.coderanch.com/t/407852/Beginning-Java/java/why-do-we-use-static

particularly read Campbell Explanation

Thanks Guys for your Replies.

So, are static method only option to write utility methods, or can they be written/accessed any other way? any design pattern that I can follow for writing utility class?

I am just trying to get information on best possible way to write Utility Class making sure I dont end up writing error prone code that is used everywhere in the application.

Thanks again. Appreciate your help.

Sachin

Sachin Deokar wrote:sorry .. let me correct myself .. I dont like over use of static methods. In my last project I ended up using one too many.

That indeed sounds like a code smell (a symptom that there might be something wrong with the design of your program), that the program is not really designed the object oriented way. If you're interested in designing better code, have a look at anti-patterns, there are whole books about this subject.

There are some disadvantages to the singleton pattern, some people say that the singleton is an anti-pattern - mainly because it makes unit testing hard (it adds global state to the program) and because you need to be careful with synchronization if your program is multi-threaded. You can use dependency injection instead of singletons in many cases.

If your utility methods are pure utility methods, that don't retain any state, I'd just make them static methods - but don't use too many of them.