Static Class Members

Static members have class scope as opposed to object scope

C++ Example

// define in header
class Singleton {
   public:
      static Singleton *getInstance();

   private:
      Singleton() {}
      static Singleton *instance;
};

// initialize in .cpp
Singleton* Singleton::instance = 0;

Java Example

public class Singleton {
    private static Singleton instance;
    
    private Singleton() {}
    
    public static Singleton getInstance() {
        if(instance == null) {
            instance = new Singleton();
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

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