What is a Design Pattern?

Design patterns provide standardized solutions to common problems encountered in software design. They are conceptual templates that guide the structuring of classes and interfaces to address specific design challenges. Essentially, design patterns offer proven approaches to creating software systems that are efficient, maintainable, and adaptable.

Types of Design Patterns

Creational Design Patterns:

Creational design patterns focus on the process of object creation. They provide mechanisms to create objects in a manner that is both flexible and efficient. These patterns help manage object creation in complex systems, ensuring that objects are created in a way that suits the needs of the system and maintains compatibility.

Here are key design patterns within this category:

Factory Method Pattern:

The Factory Method pattern defines an interface for creating an object but allows subclasses to alter the type of objects that will be created. This pattern is used to create objects without specifying the exact class of object that will be created, promoting loose coupling and enhancing flexibility in the code.

Essentials of the Factory Method Design Pattern:

Creator Class: This class declares the factory method, which returns an instance of a product. The creator may also define a default implementation of the factory method that returns a default product.

Factory Method: This method is responsible for creating objects. The actual class of the created object is determined by the subclass or a concrete implementation of the factory method.

Product Interface: This interface defines the type of object that the factory method will create. It ensures that all concrete products adhere to the same interface, allowing them to be used interchangeably.

Concrete Product: These are the classes that implement the product interface. Each concrete product represents a specific implementation of the product interface.

Example Code: