How to implement instance sharing for case classes

Question

Assuming defintion:

case class IntegerWrapper(i : Int)

and being in a situation that potentially large amounts of IntegerWrapper instances with i=[0..N> may be created what does one have to do to:

1. Map this range to a fixed set of singletons [IntegerWrapper(0) .. IntegerWrapper(N)>

2. Preserve existing value semantics for class IntegerWrapper (matching, equals, hashcode, serialization)

I am looking to do instance sharing akin to what java.lang.Integer does. I guess my question is if this can be done without having to do everything myself. Simply defining a companion object with an apply(i : Int) does not compile. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

If you're just trying to avoid allocations, perhaps what you want is a value class? In Scala 2.10, if your IntegerWrapper class extends AnyVal, instances usually won't get allocated, and instead static methods will be called on the value itself. For example:

scala> case class IntegerWrapper(val i: Int) extends AnyVal { def increment = i + 1 }
defined class IntegerWrapper

scala> object Test { IntegerWrapper(2).increment }
defined module Test

scala> :javap -verbose Test
...    
public Test$();
  Code:
   Stack=2, Locals=1, Args_size=1
   0:   aload_0
   1:   invokespecial   #13; //Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
   4:   aload_0
   5:   putstatic   #15; //Field MODULE$:LTest$;
   8:   getstatic   #20; //Field IntegerWrapper$.MODULE$:LIntegerWrapper$;
   11:  iconst_2
   12:  invokevirtual   #24; //Method IntegerWrapper$.extension$increment:(I)I
   15:  pop
   16:  return

Note that the extension method being called there is Int => Int.

For comparison, here's what you get if you don't extend AnyVal:

scala> :javap -verbose Test
...
public Test$();
  Code:
   Stack=3, Locals=1, Args_size=1
   0:   aload_0
   1:   invokespecial   #13; //Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
   4:   aload_0
   5:   putstatic   #15; //Field MODULE$:LTest$;
   8:   new #17; //class IntegerWrapper
   11:  dup
   12:  iconst_2
   13:  invokespecial   #20; //Method IntegerWrapper."<init>":(I)V
   16:  invokevirtual   #24; //Method IntegerWrapper.increment:()I
   19:  pop
   20:  return

With this version, you can see both the object allocation, and the call to a method of the new IntegerWrapper instance.

Answer 2

Memoize the results! With Scala, you can even abstract away all the required logic.

The infrastructure you need:

scala> :paste
// Entering paste mode (ctrl-D to finish)

// A little memoization utility

object Memoization extends Memoization

trait Memoization {
  trait Memoizable[A] {
    def memoize(fun: A): A
  }

  implicit def fun1memoizable[A, B] = new Memoizable[A => B] {
    def memoize(f: A => B): (A => B) = new MemoizedFunction(f)
  }

  implicit def fun2memoizable[A, B, C] = new Memoizable[(A, B) => C] {
    def memoize(f: (A, B) => C): (A, B) => C = {
      val memo = new MemoizedFunction(f.tupled)
      (a, b) => memo((a, b))
    }
  }

  implicit def fun3memoizable[A, B, C, D] = new Memoizable[(A, B, C) => D] {
    def memoize(f: (A, B, C) => D): (A, B, C) => D = {
      val memo = new MemoizedFunction(f.tupled)
      (a, b, c) => memo((a, b, c))
    }
  }

  def memoize[F](f: F)(implicit m: Memoizable[F]): F = m memoize f

  class MemoizedFunction[-A, +B](f: A => B) extends (A => B) {
    private[this] val cache = collection.mutable.Map.empty[A, B]
    def apply(a: A): B = cache.getOrElseUpdate(a, f(a))
  }
}

import Memoization._

// Abstracting flyweight pattern 
// (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyweight_pattern)
trait Flyweight[Args, Obj] { self: (Args => Obj) =>
  val on: Args => Obj = memoize(this : (Args => Obj))
}

// Ctrl+D

Usage:

scala> :paste
// Entering paste mode (ctrl-D to finish)

case class IntegerWrapper private(i: Int) {
  println(this.toString + " created.")
}

object IntegerWrapper extends (Int => IntegerWrapper) 
  with Flyweight[Int, IntegerWrapper]

// Ctrl+D

scala> IntegerWrapper.on(11)
IntegerWrapper(11) created.
res0: IntegerWrapper = IntegerWrapper(11)

scala> IntegerWrapper.on(11)
res1: IntegerWrapper = IntegerWrapper(11)

This is a general solution and uses a Map. You might be better off using a Vector for your particular case.