Why should immutable class be declared as final?

We have read that to make a class immutable in Java, we should do the following,

1. Do not provide any setters
2. Mark all fields as private
3. Make the class final

Now have you ever thought why is step 3 required? Why should I mark the class final?

Lets see with the help of example.

If you don't mark the class final, it might be possible for me to suddenly make your seemingly immutable class actually mutable. For example, consider this code:

public class Immutable {
     private final int value;

     public Immutable(int value) {
         this.value = value;
     }

     public int getValue() {
         return value;
     }
}

Now, suppose I do the following:

public class Mutable extends Immutable {
     private int realValue;

     public Mutable(int value) {
         super(value);

         realValue = value;
     }

     public int getValue() {
         return realValue;
     }
     public void setValue(int newValue) {
         realValue = newValue;
     }
}

Notice that in my Mutable subclass, I've overridden the behavior of getValue to read a new, mutable field declared in my subclass. As a result, your class, which initially looks immutable, really isn't immutable. I can pass this Mutable object wherever an Immutable object is expected, which could do Very Bad Things to code assuming the object is truly immutable. Marking the base class finalprevents this from happening.

How to create immutable class in Java and what are its pros and cons?

public final class Contacts {

    private final String name;

    private final String mobile;

    public Contacts(String name, String mobile) {

        this.name = name;

        this.mobile = mobile;

    }

  

    public String getName(){

        return name;

    }

  

    public String getMobile(){

        return mobile;

    }

}

This Java class is immutable, because its state can not be changed once created. You can see that all of it’s fields are final. This is one of the most simple way of creating immutable class in Java, where all fields of class also remains immutable like String in above case. Some time you may need to write immutable class which includes mutable classes like java.util.Date, despite storing Date into final field it can be modifiedinternally, if internal date is returned to the client. In order to preserve immutability in such cases, its advised to return copy of original object, which is also one of the Java best practice. here is another example of making a class immutable in Java, which includes mutable member variable.

public final class ImmutableReminder{

    private final Date remindingDate;

  

    public ImmutableReminder (Date remindingDate) {

        if(remindingDate.getTime() < System.currentTimeMillis()){

            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can not set reminder” +

                        “ for past time: " + remindingDate);

        }

        this.remindingDate = new Date(remindingDate.getTime());

    }

  

    public Date getRemindingDate() {

        return (Date) remindingDate.clone();

    }

}

In above example of creating immutable class, Date is a mutable object. If getRemindingDate() returns actual Date object than despite remindingDate being final variable, internals of Date can be modified by client code. By returning clone() or copy of remindingDate, we avoid that danger and preserves immutability of class.

Pros of Immutable Classes in Java

As I said earlier Immutable classes offers several benefits, here are few to mention:


1) Immutable objects are by default thread safe, can be shared without synchronization in concurrent environment.
2) Immutable object simplifies development, because its easier to share between multiple threads without external synchronization.


3) Immutable object boost performance of Java application by reducing synchronization in code.

4) Another important benefit of Immutable objects is reusability, you can cache Immutable object and reuse them, much like String literals and Integers. You can use static factory methods to provide methods like valueOf(), which can return an existing Immutable object from cache, instead of creating a new one.

Cons of Immutable Classes in Java

Immutable object has disadvantage of creating garbage as well. Since immutable object can not be reused and they are just a use and throw. String being a prime example, which can create lot of garbage and can potentially slow down application due to heavy garbage collection, but again that's extreme case and if used properly Immutable object adds lot of value.