Let's start by reviewing what the singleton pattern is, what it does, and when it should be used. Each pattern is a commonly accepted solution to a frequently occurring design problem, so what problem does the singleton pattern solve?
The singleton is a pattern that's used to restrict the number of class instantiations to exactly one. It should be considered when, by design, there should only be one object of a certain type in the entire system. A frequent criticism of the singleton is that it is a global variable in disguise, and global variables are bad. As a supposed downside of the singleton pattern itself, this critique misses the point: the pattern is a solution to the design challenge. You can argue that having a single global object in the entire system is a sign of bad design, but that is an argument...
