Design Patterns Tutorial
A tutorial on GOF design patterns. This tutorial is for beginners who are going to learn design patterns for the first time. Each pattern is expalined with suitable examples.
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In this article we will learn about what is a design pattern. In particular we will learn the definition of  a design pattern and its essential elements.

 

According to Christopher Alexander,

“Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.”

 

Definition (In Software Development):

Design patterns are repeatable or reusable solutions to commonly occurring problems in a certain context in software design.

 

Four essential elements of a design pattern:

The four essential elements of a design pattern are:

 

Pattern name: The pattern name provides a way to describe the design problem, its solution and consequences in a word or two. A pattern name provides vocabulary using which we can communicate with other people, document them and reference them in software designs. Finding a good name for a design pattern is a major issue.

 

Problem: The problem describes when to apply the pattern and in which context to apply the pattern. The problem may describe the class and object structures in a bad design context. Sometimes, the problem might also list out the conditions that must be pre satisfied to apply the pattern.

 

Solution: The solution describes the elements (classes and objects) that make up the design, their relationships, responsibilities and collaborations. The solution does not describe a particular concrete design or implementation (no code). A pattern is a template that can be applied in many different situations.

 

Consequences: These are the costs and benefits of applying the patterns. These consequences involve space and time trade-offs, language and implementation issues as well as the effect of pattern on system’s flexibility, extensibility or portability. Listing these consequences explicitly enables us to understand and evaluate them.

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Suryateja Pericherla

Suryateja Pericherla, at present is a Research Scholar (full-time Ph.D.) in the Dept. of Computer Science & Systems Engineering at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. Previously worked as an Associate Professor in the Dept. of CSE at Vishnu Institute of Technology, India.

He has 11+ years of teaching experience and is an individual researcher whose research interests are Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Computer Security, Network Security and Blockchain.

He is a member of professional societies like IEEE, ACM, CSI and ISCA. He published several research papers which are indexed by SCIE, WoS, Scopus, Springer and others.

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