Immutable class in java means that once an object is created, we cannot change its content. In Java, all the wrapper classes (like Integer, Boolean, Byte, Short) and String class is immutable. We can create our own immutable class as well. Prior to going ahead do go through characteristics of immutability in order to have a good understanding while implementing the same. Following are the requirements:
- The class must be declared as final so that child classes can’t be created.
- Data members in the class must be declared private so that direct access is not allowed.
- Data members in the class must be declared as final so that we can’t change the value of it after object creation.
- A parameterized constructor should initialize all the fields performing a deep copy so that data members can’t be modified with an object reference.
- Deep Copy of objects should be performed in the getter methods to return a copy rather than returning the actual object reference)
Note: There should be no setters or in simpler terms, there should be no option to change the value of the instance variable.
Example
Java
// Java Program to Create An Immutable Class// Importing required classesimport java.util.HashMap;import java.util.Map;// Class 1// An immutable classfinal class Student { // Member attributes of final class private final String name; private final int regNo; private final Map<String, String> metadata; // Constructor of immutable class // Parameterized constructor public Student(String name, int regNo, Map<String, String> metadata) { // This keyword refers to current instance itself this.name = name; this.regNo = regNo; // Creating Map object with reference to HashMap // Declaring object of string type Map<String, String> tempMap = new HashMap<>(); // Iterating using for-each loop for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : metadata.entrySet()) { tempMap.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()); } this.metadata = tempMap; } // Method 1 public String getName() { return name; } // Method 2 public int getRegNo() { return regNo; } // Note that there should not be any setters // Method 3 // User -defined type // To get meta data public Map<String, String> getMetadata() { // Creating Map with HashMap reference Map<String, String> tempMap = new HashMap<>(); for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : this.metadata.entrySet()) { tempMap.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()); } return tempMap; }}// Class 2// Main classclass GFG { // Main driver method public static void main(String[] args) { // Creating Map object with reference to HashMap Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<>(); // Adding elements to Map object // using put() method map.put("1", "first"); map.put("2", "second"); Student s = new Student("ABC", 101, map); // Calling the above methods 1,2,3 of class1 // inside main() method in class2 and // executing the print statement over them System.out.println(s.getName()); System.out.println(s.getRegNo()); System.out.println(s.getMetadata()); // Uncommenting below line causes error // s.regNo = 102; map.put("3", "third"); // Remains unchanged due to deep copy in constructor System.out.println(s.getMetadata()); s.getMetadata().put("4", "fourth"); // Remains unchanged due to deep copy in getter System.out.println(s.getMetadata()); }} |
ABC
101
{1=first, 2=second}
{1=first, 2=second}
{1=first, 2=second}
In this example, we have created a final class named Student. It has three final data members, a parameterized constructor, and getter methods. Please note that there is no setter method here. Also, note that we don’t need to perform deep copy or cloning of data members of wrapper types as they are already immutable.
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