Static factory methods vs Instance (normal) constructors?

Question

In a language where both are available, would you prefer to see an instance constructor or a static method that returns an instance?

For example, if you\'re creating

Answer 1

Of course, there are several advantages of static factory methods over constructors.

1. factory methods help us to write flexible code. Whereas constructors made it tightly coupled.
2. Static factory methods improve the readability since these allow you to create different instances.
3. You can return a cached object. For example getInstance() in Singleton.