PHP Singleton Pattern

Here is a Singleton pattern in PHP by example. Singleton basically means, 'A single copy'. In order to accomplish this, we must use static methods. Otherwise, the class could be re-instantiated and the "Has Been Called" flag would be reset, destroying our goal. An example of using this could be for loading a database object and being certain its only been loaded once.

My Advice: Use Singleton's sparingly.

/**
* Obviously you don't name a class Singleton, name it for whatever it applies to.
*/
class Singleton
{
	/** 
	* @var boolean $_loaded Whether or not this class has been called
	*/
	private static $_loaded = false;
	
	/**
	* Loads whatever you plan on loading only once 
	* @return mixed Either False or Object, but you can return anything you like.
	*/
	public static function load()
	{
		if (self::$_loaded == true) {
			return false;
		}
		
		return new itemToLoad();
		self::$_loaded = true;
	}

}