What is late variable initialization?

Question

I need your help! I would appreciate that :)

Answer 1

Hi YHY-1161,
Normally, properties or variables declared as having a non-null type must be initialized in the constructor. However, fairly often this is not convenient. For example, properties can be initialized through dependency injection, or in the setup method of a unit test. In this case, you cannot supply a non-null initializer in the constructor, but you still want to avoid null checks when referencing the property inside the body of a class.
To handle this case, you can use "late variable initialization".
It means that you do not initialize objects until the first time they are used. Typically, this comes about when you are unsure of what initial value an instance variable might have but want to provide a default. Rather than initialize explicitly in the constructor (or class static initializer), it is left until access time for the variable to be initialized, using a test for null to determine if it has been initialized.
Ella Gogo's answer will help you understand it better.
Best Regards,
Daniel Zhang

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