.NET 4.0 has a nice utility class called System.Lazy that does lazy object initialization. I would like to use this class for a 3.5 project. One time I saw an implementation somewhere in a stackoverflow answer but I can't find it anymore. Does someone have an alternative implementation of Lazy? It doesn't need all the thread safety features of the framework 4.0 version.
Updated:
Answers contain a non thread safe and a thread safe version.
Here is an implementation that I use.
/// <summary>
/// Provides support for lazy initialization.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">Specifies the type of object that is being lazily initialized.</typeparam>
public sealed class Lazy<T>
{
private readonly object padlock = new object();
private readonly Func<T> createValue;
private bool isValueCreated;
private T value;
/// <summary>
/// Gets the lazily initialized value of the current Lazy{T} instance.
/// </summary>
public T Value
{
get
{
if (!isValueCreated)
{
lock (padlock)
{
if (!isValueCreated)
{
value = createValue();
isValueCreated = true;
}
}
}
return value;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets a value that indicates whether a value has been created for this Lazy{T} instance.
/// </summary>
public bool IsValueCreated
{
get
{
lock (padlock)
{
return isValueCreated;
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the Lazy{T} class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="createValue">The delegate that produces the value when it is needed.</param>
public Lazy(Func<T> createValue)
{
if (createValue == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("createValue");
this.createValue = createValue;
}
/// <summary>
/// Creates and returns a string representation of the Lazy{T}.Value.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>The string representation of the Lazy{T}.Value property.</returns>
public override string ToString()
{
return Value.ToString();
}
}
If you don't need thread-safety, it's pretty easy to put one together with a factory method. I use one very similar to the following:
public class Lazy<T>
{
private readonly Func<T> initializer;
private bool isValueCreated;
private T value;
public Lazy(Func<T> initializer)
{
if (initializer == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("initializer");
this.initializer = initializer;
}
public bool IsValueCreated
{
get { return isValueCreated; }
}
public T Value
{
get
{
if (!isValueCreated)
{
value = initializer();
isValueCreated = true;
}
return value;
}
}
}
A somewhat simplify version of aaron's
public class Lazy<T> where T : new()
{
private T value;
public bool IsValueCreated { get; private set;}
public T Value
{
get
{
if (!IsValueCreated)
{
value = new T();
IsValueCreated = true;
}
return value;
}
}
}
Some funny (but not very usable) stuff can be added: implicit coversion from delegate:
public static implicit operator Lazy<T>(Func<T> initializer)
{
return new Lazy<T>(initializer);
}
And usage
private static Lazy<int> Value = new Func<int>(() => 24 * 22);
C# compiler have some problem with performing this conversion, for example assigning lambda expression does not work, but it is one more thing causes your colleguas to think a bit :)