Design Patterns

 

🎯 What Are Design Patterns?

Design patterns are proven solutions to common software design problems. They represent best practices refined over time by experienced developers.

They help you:

• Write reusable and maintainable code.

• Improve communication between team members using a common vocabulary (e.g., "This uses the Singleton pattern").

• Solve structural or behavioral challenges in object-oriented design.

---

🧩 Categories of Design Patterns

1. Creational – deal with object creation (e.g., Singleton, Factory).

2. Structural – deal with class/object composition (e.g., Adapter, Decorator).

3. Behavioral – deal with object communication (e.g., Observer, Strategy).

---

🟨 1. Singleton Design Pattern (Creational)

✅ Purpose:

Ensure only one instance of a class exists in the application and provide a global point of access to it.

🔧 When to Use:

• Configuration manager

• Database connection pool

• Logger utility

🛠 Implementation in Java:

class Singleton {
    private static Singleton instance;

    // private constructor prevents instantiation from other classes
    private Singleton() {
        System.out.println("Singleton instance created");
    }

    // global access method
    public static Singleton getInstance() {
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new Singleton(); // Lazy initialization
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

public class SingletonTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Singleton obj1 = Singleton.getInstance();
        Singleton obj2 = Singleton.getInstance();

        System.out.println(obj1 == obj2);  // true — both refer to the same instance
    }
}

✅ Key Points:

• Only one object ever created.

• Constructor is private.

• Instance is returned via a static method.

---

🟩 2. Adapter Design Pattern (Structural)

✅ Purpose:

Convert the interface of a class into another interface that clients expect. It allows classes with incompatible interfaces to work together.

🔧 When to Use:

• You want to use a class, but its interface is different from what your code expects.

• You want to reuse legacy code.

---

🧱 Example Scenario:

Suppose your client code expects USBCharger, but you have a class OldCharger with a different interface.

🔁 Without Adapter:

class OldCharger {
    public void chargePhone() {
        System.out.println("Charging phone with OldCharger");
    }
}

🧩 Adapter Code:

interface USBCharger {
    void charge();
}

// Adapter class
class ChargerAdapter implements USBCharger {
    OldCharger oldCharger = new OldCharger();

    public void charge() {
        oldCharger.chargePhone();  // adapting method
    }
}

🧪 Client Code:

public class AdapterDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        USBCharger usb = new ChargerAdapter();
        usb.charge();  // Output: Charging phone with OldCharger
    }
}

✅ Key Points:

• Adapter implements the expected interface.

• It translates calls to the actual/legacy interface.

---

✨ Summary

Pattern	Category	Intent
Singleton	Creational	Ensure only one instance of a class
Adapter	Structural	Bridge between incompatible interfaces