Refactor to Factory Enum Pattern for Cleaner Object Instantiation

[huunghia98er]

Introduction

In Java applications, object instantiation for different types is often handled through separate factory classes. While this approach works, it can become verbose and hard to maintain — especially when the set of object types is known and fixed.

To improve clarity and maintainability, we propose adopting a cleaner pattern that combines factory logic and type mapping using enums.

Current Problem

• Object creation logic is scattered and not centralized.
• Requires additional boilerplate factory classes.
• No guarantee of singleton or controlled instance creation.
• Becomes harder to maintain as more types are added.
• Type safety is not enforced at compile-time in traditional factory implementations.

Proposed Solution

Adopt the Factory Enum Pattern — a temporary term to describe a technique that combines the Factory Pattern and Enum Singleton pattern.

In this approach:

• Each enum constant represents a known object type.
• Each constant is associated with a corresponding singleton instance.
• Object creation is centralized and type-safe.
• Lazy-loaded singletons can be used via InstanceHolder.

Benefits:

• Cleaner and more readable instantiation logic.
• Eliminates the need for external factory classes.
• Guarantees singleton per type.
• Compile-time safety using enums.
• Naturally thread-safe due to enum and static initialization behavior.

Implementation Plan

• Define an enum containing constants for each object type.
• Each constant holds a reference to its singleton instance.
• Use a private static InstanceHolder class if lazy-loading is desired.
• Update client code to retrieve instances via the enum rather than constructors or factory methods.

Related Pull Request

This issue is related to PR: #3300 Apologies for submitting the pull request before filing this issue. This aims to provide additional context and rationale.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity.

[Prasoon31Pandey]

assign pls assign this to me Hi, I’d like to contribute to this issue by refactoring one or more factory-based patterns using the proposed Factory Enum Pattern. I’ll follow the same structure as in PR #3300 and ensure backward compatibility. Please confirm if this approach is okay before I start working. 🙌

[RitikaMathur19]

Is this issue resolved ?

[Prasoon31Pandey]

yes

On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 8:43 AM RitikaMathur19 @.***> wrote:

RitikaMathur19 left a comment (iluwatar/java-design-patterns#3301) https://github.com/iluwatar/java-design-patterns/issues/3301#issuecomment-3404349867

Is this issue resolved ?

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