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Consider the letter 'A' on this page. It has certain properties that are inherent to 'A-ness'—its shape, the way it's rendered in a specific font. These properties don't change whether this 'A' appears at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle of a word, or as a bullet marker. They belong to the nature of 'A' itself.\n\nBut other properties—where this particular 'A' sits on the page, which paragraph it belongs to, whether the user's cursor highlights it—depend entirely on context. A different 'A' on the same page has different positional properties despite being identical in essence.\n\nThis distinction—between what makes an object intrinsically that kind of thing versus what describes this particular instance's situation—is the intellectual foundation of the Flyweight Pattern. Getting this distinction right is the difference between a pattern that saves 90% of memory and a broken abstraction that corrupts your data.
By the end of this page, you will have mastered the intrinsic/extrinsic distinction: formal definitions, practical identification heuristics, edge cases where the boundary blurs, techniques for refactoring ambiguous state, and common mistakes that lead to subtle bugs.
Before diving into nuances, let's establish precise definitions for these fundamental concepts.
Definition: State that is independent of the flyweight's context. It is stored inside the flyweight and remains constant regardless of how or where the flyweight is used.\n\nProperties:\n• Context-independent\n• Shareable across all uses\n• Immutable after creation\n• Defines 'what kind' of thing this is\n\nExamples: Font family, font size, color definition, texture data, mesh geometry, protocol field definitions
Definition: State that depends on the flyweight's context of use. It is stored or computed by client code and passed to the flyweight when needed.\n\nProperties:\n• Context-dependent\n• Unique per instance/use\n• May change over time\n• Defines 'this particular instance'\n\nExamples: Character position, particle velocity, tree location, timestamp, selection status, instance ID
The Core Question for State Classification:\n\nFor any piece of state, ask: "If I have two different uses of this flyweight, must this value be the same or can it differ?"\n\n- Must be the same → Intrinsic state (share it)\n- Can differ → Extrinsic state (pass it in)\n\nThis question cuts to the heart of the distinction. If sharing a value across all uses would cause incorrect behavior, it's extrinsic. If sharing is required for the abstraction to be meaningful, it's intrinsic.
Think of a flyweight object as having two conceptual layers:\n\n1. The Flyweight Layer (Intrinsic): The shared core that defines 'what kind of thing' this is. Exists once per unique combination of intrinsic state.\n\n2. The Context Layer (Extrinsic): Instance-specific data that the client manages. Exists once per logical 'use' of the flyweight.
| Property | Intrinsic Layer | Extrinsic Layer |
|---|---|---|
| Stored in | Flyweight object | Client/Context object |
| Count | One per unique state combo | One per logical instance |
| Lifetime | Long-lived (cached) | Varies (may be ephemeral) |
| Mutability | Immutable | May be mutable |
| Memory impact | O(unique combos) | O(instances) |
| Passed how | N/A (stored) | As method arguments |
In practice, distinguishing intrinsic from extrinsic state requires careful analysis. These heuristics help guide your thinking:
| State | Sharing Test | Uniqueness | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Font family | Share correctly | ~10 values | Intrinsic |
| Font size | Share correctly | ~20 values | Intrinsic |
| Text color | Share correctly | ~100 values | Intrinsic |
| Bold flag | Share correctly | 2 values | Intrinsic |
| Character ('A') | Share incorrectly! | ~100 values | Extrinsic |
| X position | Share incorrectly! | Unique per char | Extrinsic |
| Y position | Share incorrectly! | Unique per line | Extrinsic |
| Selection status | Share incorrectly! | 2 values | Extrinsic |
Notice that the actual character ('A', 'B', etc.) is extrinsic, not intrinsic. Even though there are only ~100 unique characters, they define instance identity—sharing them would mean all instances are the same character! The test isn't just uniqueness count; it's whether sharing would break semantics.
Let's examine real-world domains to solidify understanding of intrinsic vs extrinsic state separation.
Scenario: A game renders a forest with 50,000 trees of 5 species.\n\nAnalysis:
| State | Analysis | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Tree species name | Defines tree type; same for all oaks | Intrinsic |
| 3D mesh geometry | Same mesh for all oaks | Intrinsic |
| Bark texture | Same texture for all oaks | Intrinsic |
| Leaf texture | Same texture for all oaks | Intrinsic |
| Animation set | Same animations for species | Intrinsic |
| World position (x,y,z) | Unique per tree instance | Extrinsic |
| Rotation angle | Unique per tree instance | Extrinsic |
| Scale factor | May vary per instance | Extrinsic |
| Health/damage | Instance-specific | Extrinsic |
| Wind sway phase | Context-dependent | Extrinsic |
Result: 5 flyweights (one per species) shared by 50,000 instances. Mesh and texture data (megabytes) stored once per species instead of per tree.
Not all state falls cleanly into intrinsic or extrinsic categories. Understanding edge cases prevents subtle bugs.
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/** * Handling edge cases in state classification. */public class StateClassificationEdgeCases { // EDGE CASE 1: Derived state - don't store, compute public class CharacterMetrics { // Intrinsic private final String fontFamily; private final int fontSize; // DON'T store derived state: // private final int lineHeight; // Can compute from fontSize // private final int averageWidth; // Can compute from font // Instead, compute on demand: public int getLineHeight() { return (int)(fontSize * 1.2); // Computed, not stored } public int getAverageCharWidth() { return FontMetrics.forFont(fontFamily, fontSize).getAverageWidth(); } } // EDGE CASE 2: Rarely varying state - default with override public class CellStyle { // Intrinsic: the style definition private final NumberFormat format; private final Font font; private final Color backgroundColor; // Most cells use default validation (none) // But some have custom validation // Solution: Validation is extrinsic, stored only when non-default } // Client stores sparse map for overrides: public class SpreadsheetClient { private final Map<CellAddress, ValidationRule> customValidations; private final Map<CellAddress, CellStyle> cellStyles; public ValidationRule getValidation(CellAddress cell) { return customValidations.getOrDefault(cell, ValidationRule.NONE); } } // EDGE CASE 3: State that must change -> create new flyweight public class DocumentEditor { private final StyleFactory factory; private final Map<TextRange, CharacterStyle> rangeStyles; public void changeFontSize(TextRange range, int newSize) { CharacterStyle oldStyle = rangeStyles.get(range); // DON'T mutate oldStyle - other ranges share it! // DO get/create a new flyweight with desired state: CharacterStyle newStyle = factory.getStyle( oldStyle.getFontFamily(), newSize, // Changed value oldStyle.getColor(), oldStyle.isBold(), oldStyle.isItalic(), oldStyle.isUnderline() ); rangeStyles.put(range, newStyle); // Old flyweight remains valid for other users } } // EDGE CASE 4: Lazy-loaded intrinsic state public class TextureReference { // Intrinsic: the identity of the texture private final String texturePath; // Loaded lazily, but conceptually part of intrinsic state private volatile Image loadedTexture; public Image getTexture() { if (loadedTexture == null) { synchronized (this) { if (loadedTexture == null) { loadedTexture = ImageLoader.load(texturePath); } } } return loadedTexture; } }}Sometimes the intrinsic/extrinsic boundary isn't objectively determined—it's a design decision with trade-offs.\n\nExample: Character Identity\n\nIn our text rendering example, we treated the actual character ('A', 'B') as extrinsic. But we could make a different choice:
Flyweight: (font, size, color, style)\nExtrinsic: (character, position)\n\nPros:\n• Fewest flyweights (~10-50 styles)\n• Maximum sharing\n\nCons:\n• Character passed to every operation\n• Can't precompute per-character metrics
Flyweight: (font, size, color, style, character)\nExtrinsic: (position)\n\nPros:\n• Can cache per-character width\n• Simpler operation signatures\n\nCons:\n• More flyweights (~100× more)\n• Still saves most memory
Both designs are valid! The choice depends on your performance profile:\n\n- If position data dominates memory (true for many chars), Design A wins.\n- If you need fast per-character metrics repeatedly, Design B might be better.\n- If memory is extremely tight, Design A minimizes flyweight objects.\n\nGuidelines for Boundary Decisions:\n\n1. Measure first: Profile your actual data to find the real memory hogs.\n2. Prefer fewer flyweights: More sharing usually means more savings.\n3. Consider operation cost: If extrinsic state makes operations expensive, reconsider the boundary.\n4. Stay consistent: Once you choose a boundary, maintain it throughout the codebase.
Incorrect state classification leads to subtle, hard-to-diagnose bugs. Here are the most common mistakes:
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/** * Examples of common Flyweight mistakes and their corrections. */public class FlyweightMistakes { // MISTAKE 1: Storing extrinsic state in flyweight public class BrokenCharacterStyle { // Intrinsic - correct private final String fontFamily; private final int fontSize; // BUG! This is extrinsic - should not be here! private int x, y; // Position belongs to client! public void setPosition(int x, int y) { this.x = x; // Corrupts for all sharing clients! this.y = y; } } // CORRECTION: Position is extrinsic, passed to operations public class CorrectCharacterStyle { private final String fontFamily; private final int fontSize; // No position stored here! public void render(Canvas c, char ch, int x, int y) { // Position passed as argument - extrinsic c.drawChar(ch, x, y, fontFamily, fontSize); } } // MISTAKE 2: Mutating flyweight state public class BrokenMutableFlyweight { private String fontFamily; private int fontSize; public void setFontSize(int size) { this.fontSize = size; // All users see this change! } } // CORRECTION: Create new flyweight for new state public class ImmutableFlyweight { private final String fontFamily; private final int fontSize; // No setters! To change, get new flyweight from factory: // newStyle = factory.getStyle(oldStyle.fontFamily, newSize); } // MISTAKE 3: Incomplete cache key public class BrokenFactory { private Map<String, Style> cache; public Style getStyle(String font, int size, Color color) { // BUG! Key ignores color - different colors get same flyweight! String key = font + "_" + size; // Missing color! // ... } } // CORRECTION: Key includes all intrinsic state public class CorrectFactory { public Style getStyle(String font, int size, Color color) { String key = font + "_" + size + "_" + color.getRGB(); // All intrinsic state in key } }}Bugs from incorrect state classification are notoriously hard to diagnose. They manifest as seemingly random behavior—one object changes and somehow a completely 'unrelated' object changes too. The shared flyweight is the invisible connection. Always verify: intrinsic state is immutable; extrinsic state is never stored in flyweights.
Use this checklist when designing a Flyweight implementation to ensure correct state separation:
You now have a deep understanding of intrinsic vs extrinsic state—the conceptual core of the Flyweight Pattern. You can identify which state belongs in shared flyweights, handle edge cases appropriately, and avoid the common mistakes that lead to subtle bugs. This foundation prepares you for the final page: comprehensive use cases and real-world implementation examples.