Lazy globals

Demonstrates waiting to initialize global variables until they're used.

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For detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:

• Tips & Tricks

Code sample

C#

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

using Google.Cloud.Functions.Framework;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace LazyFields;

public class Function : IHttpFunction
{
    // This computation runs at server cold-start.
    // Warning: Class variables used in functions code must be thread-safe.
    private static readonly int NonLazyGlobal = FileWideComputation();

    // This variable is initialized at server cold-start, but the
    // computation is only performed when the function needs the result.
    private static readonly Lazy<int> LazyGlobal = new Lazy<int>(
        FunctionSpecificComputation,
        LazyThreadSafetyMode.ExecutionAndPublication);

    public async Task HandleAsync(HttpContext context)
    {
        // In a more complex function, there might be some paths that use LazyGlobal.Value,
        // and others that don't. The computation is only performed when necessary, and
        // only once per server.
        await context.Response.WriteAsync(
            $"Lazy global: {LazyGlobal.Value}; non-lazy global: {NonLazyGlobal}");
    }

    private static int FunctionSpecificComputation()
    {
        int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
        return numbers.Sum();
    }

    private static int FileWideComputation()
    {
        int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
        return numbers.Aggregate((current, next) => current * next);
    }
}

Go

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

// Package tips contains tips for writing Cloud Functions in Go.
package tips

import (
	"context"
	"log"
	"net/http"
	"sync"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/functions-framework-go/functions"
)

// client is lazily initialized by LazyGlobal.
var client *storage.Client
var clientOnce sync.Once

func init() {
	functions.HTTP("LazyGlobal", LazyGlobal)
}

// LazyGlobal is an example of lazily initializing a Google Cloud Storage client.
func LazyGlobal(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	// You may wish to add different checks to see if the client is needed for
	// this request.
	clientOnce.Do(func() {
		// Pre-declare an err variable to avoid shadowing client.
		var err error
		client, err = storage.NewClient(context.Background())
		if err != nil {
			http.Error(w, "Internal error", http.StatusInternalServerError)
			log.Printf("storage.NewClient: %v", err)
			return
		}
	})
	// Use client.
}

Java

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import com.google.cloud.functions.HttpFunction;
import com.google.cloud.functions.HttpRequest;
import com.google.cloud.functions.HttpResponse;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class LazyFields implements HttpFunction {
  // Always initialized (at cold-start)
  // Warning: Class variables used in Servlet classes must be thread-safe,
  // or else might introduce race conditions in your code.
  private static final int NON_LAZY_GLOBAL = fileWideComputation();

  // Declared at cold-start, but only initialized if/when the function executes
  // Uses the "initialization-on-demand holder" idiom
  // More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initialization-on-demand_holder_idiom
  private static class LazyGlobalHolder {
    // Making the default constructor private prohibits instantiation of this class
    private LazyGlobalHolder() {}

    // This value is initialized only if (and when) the getLazyGlobal() function below is called
    private static final Integer INSTANCE = functionSpecificComputation();

    private static Integer getInstance() {
      return LazyGlobalHolder.INSTANCE;
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void service(HttpRequest request, HttpResponse response)
      throws IOException {
    Integer lazyGlobal = LazyGlobalHolder.getInstance();

    var writer = new PrintWriter(response.getWriter());
    writer.printf("Lazy global: %s; non-lazy global: %s%n", lazyGlobal, NON_LAZY_GLOBAL);
  }

  private static int functionSpecificComputation() {
    int[] numbers = new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9};
    return Arrays.stream(numbers).sum();
  }

  private static int fileWideComputation() {
    int[] numbers = new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9};
    return Arrays.stream(numbers).reduce((t, x) -> t * x).getAsInt();
  }
}

Node.js

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

const functions = require('@google-cloud/functions-framework');

// Always initialized (at cold-start)
const nonLazyGlobal = fileWideComputation();

// Declared at cold-start, but only initialized if/when the function executes
let lazyGlobal;

/**
 * HTTP function that uses lazy-initialized globals
 *
 * @param {Object} req request context.
 * @param {Object} res response context.
 */
functions.http('lazyGlobals', (req, res) => {
  // This value is initialized only if (and when) the function is called
  lazyGlobal = lazyGlobal || functionSpecificComputation();

  res.send(`Lazy global: ${lazyGlobal}, non-lazy global: ${nonLazyGlobal}`);
});

Python

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import functions_framework

# Always initialized (at cold-start)
non_lazy_global = file_wide_computation()

# Declared at cold-start, but only initialized if/when the function executes
lazy_global = None


@functions_framework.http
def lazy_globals(request):
    """
    HTTP Cloud Function that uses lazily-initialized globals.
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Request>
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
        Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """
    global lazy_global, non_lazy_global

    # This value is initialized only if (and when) the function is called
    if not lazy_global:
        lazy_global = function_specific_computation()

    return f"Lazy: {lazy_global}, non-lazy: {non_lazy_global}."

Ruby

To authenticate to Cloud Functions, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

FunctionsFramework.on_startup do
  # This method is called when the function is initialized, not on each
  # invocation.

  # Declare and set non_lazy_global
  set_global :non_lazy_global, file_wide_computation

  # Declare, but do not set, lazy_global
  set_global :lazy_global do
    function_specific_computation
  end
end

FunctionsFramework.http "tips_lazy" do |_request|
  # This method is called every time this function is called.

  "Lazy: #{global :lazy_global}; non_lazy: #{global :non_lazy_global}"
end

What's next

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