What should my Objective-C singleton look like? [closed]

Question

Another option is to use the +(void)initialize method. From the documentation:

The runtime sends initialize to each class in a program exactly one time just before the class, or any class that inherits from it, is sent its first message from within the program. (Thus the method may never be invoked if the class is not used.) The runtime sends the initialize message to classes in a thread-safe manner. Superclasses receive this message before their subclasses.

So you could do something akin to this:

static MySingleton *sharedSingleton;

+ (void)initialize
{
    static BOOL initialized = NO;
    if(!initialized)
    {
        initialized = YES;
        sharedSingleton = [[MySingleton alloc] init];
    }
}

@interface MySingleton : NSObject
{
}

+ (MySingleton *)sharedSingleton;
@end

@implementation MySingleton

+ (MySingleton *)sharedSingleton
{
  static MySingleton *sharedSingleton;

  @synchronized(self)
  {
    if (!sharedSingleton)
      sharedSingleton = [[MySingleton alloc] init];

    return sharedSingleton;
  }
}

@end

[Source]

Per my other answer below, I think you should be doing:

+ (id)sharedFoo
{
    static dispatch_once_t once;
    static MyFoo *sharedFoo;
    dispatch_once(&once, ^ { sharedFoo = [[self alloc] init]; });
    return sharedFoo;
}

Since Kendall posted a threadsafe singleton that attempts to avoid locking costs, I thought I would toss one up as well:

#import <libkern/OSAtomic.h>

static void * volatile sharedInstance = nil;                                                

+ (className *) sharedInstance {                                                                    
  while (!sharedInstance) {                                                                          
    className *temp = [[self alloc] init];                                                                 
    if(!OSAtomicCompareAndSwapPtrBarrier(0x0, temp, &sharedInstance)) {
      [temp release];                                                                                   
    }                                                                                                    
  }                                                                                                        
  return sharedInstance;                                                                        
}

Okay, let me explain how this works:

1. Fast case: In normal execution sharedInstance has already been set, so the while loop is never executed and the function returns after simply testing for the variable's existence;

2. Slow case: If sharedInstance doesn't exist, then an instance is allocated and copied into it using a Compare And Swap ('CAS');

3. Contended case: If two threads both attempt to call sharedInstance at the same time AND sharedInstance doesn't exist at the same time then they will both initialize new instances of the singleton and attempt to CAS it into position. Whichever one wins the CAS returns immediately, whichever one loses releases the instance it just allocated and returns the (now set) sharedInstance. The single OSAtomicCompareAndSwapPtrBarrier acts as both a write barrier for the setting thread and a read barrier from the testing thread.

static MyClass *sharedInst = nil;

+ (id)sharedInstance
{
    @synchronize( self ) {
        if ( sharedInst == nil ) {
            /* sharedInst set up in init */
            [[self alloc] init];
        }
    }
    return sharedInst;
}

- (id)init
{
    if ( sharedInst != nil ) {
        [NSException raise:NSInternalInconsistencyException
            format:@"[%@ %@] cannot be called; use +[%@ %@] instead"],
            NSStringFromClass([self class]), NSStringFromSelector(_cmd), 
            NSStringFromClass([self class]),
            NSStringFromSelector(@selector(sharedInstance)"];
    } else if ( self = [super init] ) {
        sharedInst = self;
        /* Whatever class specific here */
    }
    return sharedInst;
}

/* These probably do nothing in
   a GC app.  Keeps singleton
   as an actual singleton in a
   non CG app
*/
- (NSUInteger)retainCount
{
    return NSUIntegerMax;
}

- (oneway void)release
{
}

- (id)retain
{
    return sharedInst;
}

- (id)autorelease
{
    return sharedInst;
}

Edit: This implementation obsoleted with ARC. Please have a look at How do I implement an Objective-C singleton that is compatible with ARC? for correct implementation.

All the implementations of initialize I've read in other answers share a common error.

+ (void) initialize {
  _instance = [[MySingletonClass alloc] init] // <----- Wrong!
}

+ (void) initialize {
  if (self == [MySingletonClass class]){ // <----- Correct!
      _instance = [[MySingletonClass alloc] init] 
  }
}

The Apple documentation recommend you check the class type in your initialize block. Because subclasses call the initialize by default. There exists a non-obvious case where subclasses may be created indirectly through KVO. For if you add the following line in another class:

[[MySingletonClass getInstance] addObserver:self forKeyPath:@"foo" options:0 context:nil]

Objective-C will implicitly create a subclass of MySingletonClass resulting in a second triggering of +initialize.

You may think that you should implicitly check for duplicate initialization in your init block as such:

- (id) init { <----- Wrong!
   if (_instance != nil) {
      // Some hack
   }
   else {
      // Do stuff
   }
  return self;
}

But you will shoot yourself in the foot; or worse give another developer the opportunity to shoot themselves in the foot.

- (id) init { <----- Correct!
   NSAssert(_instance == nil, @"Duplication initialization of singleton");
   self = [super init];
   if (self){
      // Do stuff
   }
   return self;
}

TL;DR, here's my implementation

@implementation MySingletonClass
static MySingletonClass * _instance;
+ (void) initialize {
   if (self == [MySingletonClass class]){
      _instance = [[MySingletonClass alloc] init];
   }
}

- (id) init {
   ZAssert (_instance == nil, @"Duplication initialization of singleton");
   self = [super init];
   if (self) {
      // Initialization
   }
   return self;
}

+ (id) getInstance {
   return _instance;
}
@end

(Replace ZAssert with our own assertion macro; or just NSAssert.)