Design Patterns
By definition, Design Patterns are reusable solutions to commonly occuring problems(in the context of software design).
Design patterns were started as best practices that were applied again and again to similar problems encountered
in different contexts. They become popular after they were collected, in a formalized form, in the Gang Of Four book
in 1994. Originally published with c++ and smaltalk code samples, design patterns are very popular in Java and C# can be
applied in all object oriented languanges. In functional languages like Scala, certain patterns are not necesary anymore.
Creational Design Patterns:
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Singleton Pattern
Singleton -
Ensure that only one instance of a class is created and
Provide a global access point to the object.
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Examples: Lazy Singleton in Java ,
, Early Singleton in Java
Singleton pattern should be used when we must ensure that only one instance of a class is created and when the instance must be available through all the code. A special care should be taken in multi-threading environments when multiple threads must access the same resources through the same singleton object.
There are many common situations when singleton pattern is used:
- Logger Classes
- Configuration Classes
- Accesing resources in shared mode
- Other design patterns implemented as Singletons: Factories and Abstract Factories, Builder, Prototype
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Factory Pattern
Factory (Simplified version of Factory Method) -
Creates objects without exposing the instantiation logic to the client and
Refers to the newly created object through a common interface.
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Factory pattern should be used when:
- a framework delegate the creation of objects derived from a common superclass to the factory
- we need flexibility in adding new types of objects that must be created by the class
Along with singleton pattern the factory is one of the most used patterns. Almost any application has some factories. Here are a some examples in java:
- factories providing an xml parser: javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory or javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory
- java.net.URLConnection - allows users to decide which protocol to use
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Factory Method
Document Application Example
Factory Method Example
Factory Method -
Defines an interface for creating objects, but let subclasses to decide which class to instantiate and
Refers to the newly created object through a common interface.
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Factory Method pattern should be used when:
- a framework delegate the creation of objects derived from a common superclass to the factory
- the base factory class does not know what concrete classes will be required to create
- delegates to its subclasses the creation of concrete objects
- factory subclasses subclasses are aware of the concrete classes that must be instantiated
Factory method pattern, compared to Factory pattern replace the factory with an abstract class and a set of concrete factories subclasses. The subclasses are responsible for creating concrete product objects; for factory method is possible adding new product classes without changing the abstract factory. The same result can be achieved for simplified factory pattern if reflection is used.
Along with singleton pattern the factories are the most used patterns. Almost any application has some factories. Here are a some examples:
- factories providing an xml parser: javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory or javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory
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Abstract Factory
Look & Feel Example
Abstract Pattern Example
Abstract Factory - Offers the interface for creating a family of related objects, without explicitly specifying their classes.
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Example: Gui Look & Feel in Java
Abstract Factory should be used when:
- A system should be configured with one of multiple families of products
- A system should be independent of how its products are created, composed and represented
- Products from the same family should be used all together, products from different families ahould not be used togheter and this constraint must be ensured.
- Only the product interfaces are revealed, the implementations remains hidden to the clients.
Examples of abstract factories:
- java.awt.Toolkit - the abstract superclass of all actual implementations of the Abstract Window Toolkit. Subclasses of Toolkit are used to bind the various components to particular native toolkit implementations(Java AWT).
- javax.swing.LookAndFeel - an abstract swing factory to swithct between several look and feel for the components displayed(Java Swing).
- java.sql.Connection - an abstract factory which create Statements, PreparedStatements, CallableStatements,... for each database flavor.
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Highslide JS
Prototype - Specify the kinds of objects to create using a prototypical instance, and create new objects by copying this prototype.
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Object Pool
Database Example
Object Pool Example
Object Pool - reuses and shares objects that are expensive to create..
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Sourcecode: Database Connection Pool in Java
Basically, we'll use an object pool whenever there are several clients who needs the same stateless resource which is expensive to create.
The most common situations when object pool pattern is used:
- Database Connections
- Remote Objects
Behavioral Design Patterns:
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Chain of Responsibility
Chain of Responsibiliy - It avoids attaching the sender of a request to its receiver, giving this way other objects the possibility of handling the request too.
- The objects become parts of a chain and the request is sent from one object to another across the chain until one of the objects will handle it.
Sourcecode:
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Interpreter Pattern
Interpreter - Given a language, define a representation for its grammar along with an interpreter that uses the representation to interpret sentences in the language / Map a domain to a language, the language to a grammar, and the grammar to a hierarchical object-oriented design
Sourcecode: Romans Numerals Converter in Java
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Iterator Pattern
Iterator - Provide a way to access the elements of an aggregate object sequentially without exposing its underlying representation.
Sourcecode: Java Iterator
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Mediator Pattern
Mediator - Define an object that encapsulates how a set of objects interact. Mediator promotes loose coupling by keeping objects from referring to each other explicitly, and it lets you vary their interaction independently.
Sourcecode:
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Null Object Pattern
Null Object - Provide an object as a surrogate for the lack of an object of a given type. / The Null Object Pattern provides intelligent do nothing behavior, hiding the details from its collaborators.
Sourcecode:
Structural Design Patterns:
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Adapter Pattern
Adapter - Convert the interface of a class into another interface clients expect. / Adapter lets classes work together, that could not otherwise because of incompatible interfaces.
