Lazy Initialization

Lazy Initialization is a technique that initializes a variable (in OO contexts usually a field of a class) on it's first access. It canonical form is something like this:

public FooClass Foo {
  get {
    if (_foo = null) _foo = calculateFoo();
    return _foo;
  }
}

Lazy initialization is useful when calculating the value of the field is time consuming and you don't want to do it until you actually need the value. So it's often useful in situations where the field isn't needed in many contexts or we want to get the object initialized quickly and prefer any delay to be later on.

Remember that this is an optimization technique to help responsiveness in situations where a client doesn't need the lazy initialized value. As with any optimization you shouldn't use this technique unless you have a real performance problem to solve.

In particular lazy initialization can cause debugging woes because if you try look at the field during debugging you'll cause a state change in the system that doesn't happen under normal use. (While the ObservableState doesn't change the actual state does.) This can lead to situations where bugs seem to disappear when you add a print statement - always a good recipe for major ulcers on Friday afternoons.