What's the best way to prevent a class from being instantiated?

I want this class to be completely static and can never be instantiated. It only contains a bunch of static methods and constants.

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

Make it Abstract.

classdef (Abstract) purelyStatic
    methods(Static)
        function y = getPi()
            y = pi;
        end
    end
    properties(Constant)
        theAnswerToLifeTheUniverseAndEverything = 42;
    end
end

Use it as:

P = purelyStatic.getPi()
A = purelyStatic.theAnswerToLifeTheUniverseAndEverything

Trying to instantiate it will error.

x = purelyStatic

[埃博拉酱]

It's just abstract. It can be inherited and then instantiated.

[Steven Lord]

Make it Sealed as well. That still wouldn't prevent someone from editing the class file but there isn't really a way to make it so it can never, ever, ever be modified. At least not while butterflies exist :)

classdef (Abstract, Sealed) purelyStatic