If I want a serialization-safe singleton, should I prefer
case object Foo
or
object Foo extends Serializable
?
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Jim Ferrans
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soc
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1How is that a style question? The two code samples do different things! – Kim Stebel May 25 '11 at 19:03
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The two are *not* equivalent. – Raphael May 25 '11 at 19:09
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I have never claimed that they are equivalent, both just add the same code for serialization to the bytecode. – soc May 29 '11 at 14:12
1 Answers
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I think this depends on how you plan to use this object. Case objects are generally used with case classes to represent some kind of initial or terminal object in an algebraic data type, eg Nil or None. Regular objects usually are companions for classes to hold static methods like singleton and factory methods.
If you're planning using this object with other classes, serializing it, and maybe using it in pattern matching, defining it as a case object seems more natural to me.
Dan Simon
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