Copy constructors and defensive copying

Question

What is a copy constructor?

Can someone share a small example that can be helpful to understand along with defensive copying principle?

Answer 1

Here's a good example:

class Point {
  final int x;
  final int y;

  Point(int x, int y) {
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;
  }

  Point(Point p) {
    this(p.x, p.y);
  }

}

Note how the constructor Point(Point p) takes a Point and makes a copy of it - that's a copy constructor.

This is a defensive copy because the original Point is protected from change by taking a copy of it.

So now:

// A simple point.
Point p1 = new Point(3,42);
// A new point at the same place as p1 but a completely different object.
Point p2 = new Point(p1);

Note that this is not necessarily the correct way of creating objects. It is, however, a good way of creating objects that ensures that you never have two references to the same object by accident. Clearly this is only a good thing if that is what you want to achieve.

Answer 2

Copy constructors one often sees in C++ where they are needed for partly hidden, automatically invoked operations.

java java.awt.Point and Rectangle come to mind; also very old, mutable objects.

By using immutable objects, like String, or BigDecimal, simply assigning the object reference will do. In fact, due to the early phase of Java after C++, there still is a silly copy constructor in String:

public class Recipe {
    List<Ingredient> ingredients;

    public Recipe() {
        ingredients = new ArrayList<Ingredient>();
    }

    /** Copy constructor */
    public Recipe(Recipe other) {
        // Not sharing: ingredients = other.ingredients;
        ingredients = new ArrayList<>(other.ingredients);
    }

    public List<Ingredient> getIngredients() {
        // Defensive copy, so others cannot change this instance.
        return new ArrayList<Ingredient>(ingredients);
        // Often could do:
        // return Collections.immutableList(ingredients);
    }
}

---

On request

Leaking class with copy constructor:

public class Wrong {
    private final List<String> list;

    public Wrong(List<String> list) {
        this.list = list; // Error: now shares list object with caller.
    }

    /** Copy constructor */
    public Wrong(Wrong wrong) {
        this.list = wrong.list; // Error: now shares list object with caller.
    }

    public List<String> getList() {
        return list; // Error: now shares list object with caller.
    }

    public void clear() {
        list.clear();
    }
}

Correct class with copy constructor:

public class Right {
    private final List<String> list;

    public Right(List<String> list) {
        this.list = new ArrayList<>(list);
    }

    public Right(Right right) {
        this.list = new ArrayList<>(right.list);
    }

    public List<String> getList() {
        return new ArrayList<>(list);
    }

    public List<String> getListForReading() {
        return Collections.unmodifiableList(list);
    }

    public void clear() {
        list.clear();
    }
}

With testing code:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    List<String> list1 = new ArrayList<>();
    Collections.addAll(list1, "a", "b", "c", "d", "e");
    Wrong w1 = new Wrong(list1);
    list1.remove(0);
    System.out.printf("The first element of w1 is %s.%n", w1.getList().get(0)); // "b"
    Wrong w2 = new Wrong(w1);
    w2.clear();
    System.out.printf("Size of list1 %d, w1 %d, w2 %d.%n",
        list1.size(), w1.getList().size(), w2.getList().size());

    List<String> list2 = new ArrayList<>();
    Collections.addAll(list2, "a", "b", "c", "d", "e");
    Right r1 = new Right(list2);
    list2.remove(0);
    System.out.printf("The first element of r1 is %s.%n", r1.getList().get(0)); // "a"
    Right r2 = new Right(r1);
    r2.clear();
    System.out.printf("Size of list2 %d, r1 %d, r2 %d.%n",
        list2.size(), r1.getList().size(), r2.getList().size());
}

Which gives:

The first element of w1 is b.
Size of list1 0, w1 0, w2 0.
The first element of r1 is a.
Size of list2 4, r1 5, r2 0.