Analysis

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Analysis

Pattern comparison

Reviewing 3 patterns.

Criteria
structuralBridgeView pattern
structuralCompositeView pattern
structuralFlyweightView pattern
Basics
Categorystructuralstructuralstructural
SummarySeparate an abstraction from its implementation so the two can vary independently.Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies and let clients work with individual and composite objects through the same interface.—
IntentDecouple abstractions from implementations so they can evolve independently.Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies and let clients work with individual and composite objects through the same interface.Use sharing to support large numbers of fine-grained objects efficiently by separating shared intrinsic state from per-object extrinsic state.
Decision factors
ProblemWhen an abstraction is tightly coupled to its implementation, changing one side forces changes in the other and makes the system harder to evolve.A system needs to treat individual objects and groups of objects uniformly, but the hierarchy becomes difficult to manage with separate code paths.A system creates a large number of similar objects, but storing all of their state separately uses too much memory.
Tradeoffs
  • Adds an extra layer of indirection.
  • Can increase the number of moving parts.
  • Makes abstractions and implementations easier to evolve independently.
  • Can make the design more abstract and harder to follow.
  • May require careful handling of operations that only apply to some nodes in the tree.
  • Makes recursive tree operations and client code much simpler.
  • Adds complexity because state must be split into shared and unshared parts
  • Can be harder to understand when many objects depend on an external context
Practical fit
Languages
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • go
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
Platforms
  • web
  • backend
  • mobile
  • integration
  • ui
  • web
  • backend
  • mobile
  • ui kits
  • cross-platform systems
  • Web
  • Backend
  • Mobile
  • UI kits
  • Cross-platform systems
Integration notesBridge is useful when you want one stable abstraction while swapping implementations for providers, environments, or device targets.Composite is useful when a hierarchy of nested objects should expose a common interface, such as files and folders, menus and submenus, org charts, widget trees, or scene graphs.Flyweight is useful when thousands or millions of similar objects need to be represented efficiently, such as trees, glyphs, tiles, or UI tokens.