- Design patterns are reusable solutions to common problems encountered during software design.
- Characteristics of design patterns are as follows.
Proven Solutions:
These are known approaches that have been successfully used in various projects, so time and effort can be saved.Flexibility:
These can be adapted and customized to fit the specific context of your project.Communication Tools:
These provide a common vocabulary for developers to discuss and understand design concepts. For ex, when using terms likesingleton
,prototype
every developer understands.
Types of Design Patterns:
Creational Patterns:
These patterns focus on object creation mechanisms. They are Singleton, Factory Method, Abstract Factory, Builder and Prototype.Structural Patterns:
These patterns deal with the composition of classes and objects, promoting a more flexible and efficient structure. Examples include,Adapter:
Allowing incompatible interfaces to work togetherFacade:
Providing a simplified interface to a complex system.Decorator:
Dynamically adding new functionality to objects.
Behavioral Patterns:
These patterns address how objects interact and communicate, influencing the program's behavior.Observer:
establishing a one-to-many dependency between objects.Strategy:
Allowing dynamic selection of an algorithm.Command:
Encapsulating a request as an object.
- By using design patterns, the following can be achieved.
Write cleaner, more maintainable code:
Design patterns promote a well-organized and modular code structure.Improve code reusability:
You can leverage existing patterns across different parts of your code or even in new projects.Enhance communication with other developers:
Design patterns provide a common language for discussing design decisions.Solve common problems efficiently:
By using established and proven solutions, you can save time and effort.
- Behavioral design patterns are concerned with the interaction and communication between objects and classes.
- They focus on how objects collaborate to fulfill responsibilities and manage relationships at runtime.
- These patterns are primarily concerned with algorithms, responsibilities, and communication between objects.
- Key characteristics:
Focus on Object Interaction:
Behavioral patterns focus on defining how objects interact and communicate with each other to accomplish tasks.Encapsulating Behavior:
They encapsulate algorithms or behavior in objects and promote flexibility and reuse by decoupling the implementation from the client code.Runtime Behavior:
Behavioral patterns are concerned with the behavior of objects at runtime and how they respond to different situations or events.Dynamic Relationships:
They often involve dynamic relationships between objects that can change at runtime.
- Structural design patterns are concerned with the composition of classes or objects to form larger structures or systems.
- They focus on organizing and structuring classes to ensure that the system is scalable, maintainable, and adaptable to change.
- These patterns are primarily concerned with class composition, relationships, and structure.
- Key characteristics:
Focus on Class Composition:
Structural patterns focus on how classes and objects are composed to form larger structures or systems.Creating Class Relationships:
They define ways to establish relationships between classes and objects to achieve specific goals, such as code reuse, flexibility, or performance optimization.Static Structure:
Structural patterns primarily deal with the static structure of classes and objects rather than their runtime
behavior.Code Reuse and Organization:
They promote code reuse, modularity, and organization by defining common ways to structure classes and objects.