Design Patterns

 

Classification and list

Design patterns had originally been categorized into 3 sub-classifications based on kind of problem they solve. Creational patterns provide the capability to create objects based on a required criterion and in a controlled way. Structural patterns are about organizing different classes and objects to form larger structures and provide new functionality. Finally, behavioral patterns are about identifying common communication patterns between objects and realize these patterns.

Creational patterns

Name	Description	In Design Patterns	In Code Complete[15]	Other
Abstract factory	Provide an interface for creating families of related or dependent objects without specifying their concrete classes.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Builder	Separate the construction of a complex object from its representation, allowing the same construction process to create various representations.	Yes	No	N/A
Dependency Injection	A class accepts the objects it requires from an injector instead of creating the objects directly.	No	No	N/A
Factory method	Define an interface for creating a single object, but let subclasses decide which class to instantiate. Factory Method lets a class defer instantiation to subclasses.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Lazy initialization	Tactic of delaying the creation of an object, the calculation of a value, or some other expensive process until the first time it is needed. This pattern appears in the GoF catalog as "virtual proxy", an implementation strategy for the Proxy pattern.	No	No	PoEAA[16]
Multiton	Ensure a class has only named instances, and provide a global point of access to them.	No	No	N/A
Object pool	Avoid expensive acquisition and release of resources by recycling objects that are no longer in use. Can be considered a generalisation of connection pool and thread pool patterns.	No	No	N/A
Prototype	Specify the kinds of objects to create using a prototypical instance, and create new objects from the 'skeleton' of an existing object, thus boosting performance and keeping memory footprints to a minimum.	Yes	No	N/A
Resource acquisition is initialization (RAII)	Ensure that resources are properly released by tying them to the lifespan of suitable objects.	No	No	N/A
Singleton	Ensure a class has only one instance, and provide a global point of access to it.	Yes	Yes	N/A

Structural patterns[edit]

Name	Description	In Design Patterns	In Code Complete[15]	Other
Adapter, Wrapper, or Translator	Convert the interface of a class into another interface clients expect. An adapter lets classes work together that could not otherwise because of incompatible interfaces. The enterprise integration pattern equivalent is the translator.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Bridge	Decouple an abstraction from its implementation allowing the two to vary independently.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Composite	Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies. Composite lets clients treat individual objects and compositions of objects uniformly.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Decorator	Attach additional responsibilities to an object dynamically keeping the same interface. Decorators provide a flexible alternative to subclassing for extending functionality.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Extension object	Adding functionality to a hierarchy without changing the hierarchy.	No	No	Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices[17]
Facade	Provide a unified interface to a set of interfaces in a subsystem. Facade defines a higher-level interface that makes the subsystem easier to use.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Flyweight	Use sharing to support large numbers of similar objects efficiently.	Yes	No	N/A
Front controller	The pattern relates to the design of Web applications. It provides a centralized entry point for handling requests.	No	No	J2EE Patterns[18] PoEAA[19]
Marker	Empty interface to associate metadata with a class.	No	No	Effective Java[20]
Module	Group several related elements, such as classes, singletons, methods, globally used, into a single conceptual entity.	No	No	N/A
Proxy	Provide a surrogate or placeholder for another object to control access to it.	Yes	No	N/A
Twin [21]	Twin allows modeling of multiple inheritance in programming languages that do not support this feature.	No	No	N/A

Behavioural patterns[edit]

Name	Description	In Design Patterns	In Code Complete[15]	Other
Blackboard	Artificial intelligence pattern for combining disparate sources of data (see blackboard system)	No	No	N/A
Chain of responsibility	Avoid coupling the sender of a request to its receiver by giving more than one object a chance to handle the request. Chain the receiving objects and pass the request along the chain until an object handles it.	Yes	No	N/A
Command	Encapsulate a request as an object, thereby allowing for the parameterization of clients with different requests, and the queuing or logging of requests. It also allows for the support of undoable operations.	Yes	No	N/A
Interpreter	Given a language, define a representation for its grammar along with an interpreter that uses the representation to interpret sentences in the language.	Yes	No	N/A
Iterator	Provide a way to access the elements of an aggregate object sequentially without exposing its underlying representation.	Yes	Yes	N/A
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 allows their interaction to vary independently.	Yes	No	N/A
Memento	Without violating encapsulation, capture and externalize an object's internal state allowing the object to be restored to this state later.	Yes	No	N/A
Null object	Avoid null references by providing a default object.	No	No	N/A
Observer or Publish/subscribe	Define a one-to-many dependency between objects where a state change in one object results in all its dependents being notified and updated automatically.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Servant	Define common functionality for a group of classes. The servant pattern is also frequently called helper class or utility class implementation for a given set of classes. The helper classes generally have no objects hence they have all static methods that act upon different kinds of class objects.	No	No	N/A
Specification	Recombinable business logic in a Boolean fashion.	No	No	N/A
State	Allow an object to alter its behavior when its internal state changes. The object will appear to change its class.	Yes	No	N/A
Strategy	Define a family of algorithms, encapsulate each one, and make them interchangeable. Strategy lets the algorithm vary independently from clients that use it.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Template method	Define the skeleton of an algorithm in an operation, deferring some steps to subclasses. Template method lets subclasses redefine certain steps of an algorithm without changing the algorithm's structure.	Yes	Yes	N/A
Visitor	Represent an operation to be performed on the elements of an object structure. Visitor lets a new operation be defined without changing the classes of the elements on which it operates.	Yes	No	N/A

Concurrency patterns[edit]

Name	Description	In POSA2[22]	Other
Active Object	Decouples method execution from method invocation that reside in their own thread of control. The goal is to introduce concurrency, by using asynchronous method invocation and a scheduler for handling requests.	Yes	N/A
Balking	Only execute an action on an object when the object is in a particular state.	No	N/A
Binding properties	Combining multiple observers to force properties in different objects to be synchronized or coordinated in some way.[23]	No	N/A
Compute kernel	The same calculation many times in parallel, differing by integer parameters used with non-branching pointer math into shared arrays, such as GPU-optimized Matrix multiplication or Convolutional neural network.	No	N/A
Double-checked locking	Reduce the overhead of acquiring a lock by first testing the locking criterion (the 'lock hint') in an unsafe manner; only if that succeeds does the actual locking logic proceed. Can be unsafe when implemented in some language/hardware combinations. It can therefore sometimes be considered an anti-pattern.	Yes	N/A
Event-based asynchronous	Addresses problems with the asynchronous pattern that occur in multithreaded programs.[24]	No	N/A
Guarded suspension	Manages operations that require both a lock to be acquired and a precondition to be satisfied before the operation can be executed.	No	N/A
Join	Join-pattern provides a way to write concurrent, parallel and distributed programs by message passing. Compared to the use of threads and locks, this is a high-level programming model.	No	N/A
Lock	One thread puts a "lock" on a resource, preventing other threads from accessing or modifying it.[25]	No	PoEAA[16]
Messaging design pattern (MDP)	Allows the interchange of information (i.e. messages) between components and applications.	No	N/A
Monitor object	An object whose methods are subject to mutual exclusion, thus preventing multiple objects from erroneously trying to use it at the same time.	Yes	N/A
Reactor	A reactor object provides an asynchronous interface to resources that must be handled synchronously.	Yes	N/A
Read-write lock	Allows concurrent read access to an object, but requires exclusive access for write operations.	No	N/A
Scheduler	Explicitly control when threads may execute single-threaded code.	No	N/A
Thread pool	A number of threads are created to perform a number of tasks, which are usually organized in a queue. Typically, there are many more tasks than threads. Can be considered a special case of the object pool pattern.	No	N/A
Thread-specific storage	Static or "global" memory local to a thread.	Yes	N/A

Documentation[edit]

The documentation for a design pattern describes the context in which the pattern is used, the forces within the context that the pattern seeks to resolve, and the suggested solution.[26] There is no single, standard format for documenting design patterns. Rather, a variety of different formats have been used by different pattern authors. However, according to Martin Fowler, certain pattern forms have become more well-known than others, and consequently become common starting points for new pattern-writing efforts.[27] One example of a commonly used documentation format is the one used by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides in their book Design Patterns. It contains the following sections:

• Pattern Name and Classification: A descriptive and unique name that helps in identifying and referring to the pattern.
• Intent: A description of the goal behind the pattern and the reason for using it.
• Also Known As: Other names for the pattern.
• Motivation (Forces): A scenario consisting of a problem and a context in which this pattern can be used.
• Applicability: Situations in which this pattern is usable; the context for the pattern.
• Structure: A graphical representation of the pattern. Class diagrams and Interaction diagrams may be used for this purpose.
• Participants: A listing of the classes and objects used in the pattern and their roles in the design.
• Collaboration: A description of how classes and objects used in the pattern interact with each other.
• Consequences: A description of the results, side effects, and trade offs caused by using the pattern.
• Implementation: A description of an implementation of the pattern; the solution part of the pattern.
• Sample Code: An illustration of how the pattern can be used in a programming language.
• Known Uses: Examples of real usages of the pattern.
• Related Patterns: Other patterns that have some relationship with the pattern; discussion of the differences between the pattern and similar patterns.