Analysis

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Analysis

Pattern comparison

Reviewing 3 patterns.

Criteria
structuralCompositeView pattern
structuralFlyweightView pattern
behavioralVisitorView pattern
Basics
Categorystructuralstructuralbehavioral
SummaryCompose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies and let clients work with individual and composite objects through the same interface.——
IntentCompose 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.Separate an algorithm from the object structure it operates on by moving behavior into visitor objects.
Decision factors
ProblemA 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.You need to perform operations across a set of different object types without stuffing all the logic into the objects themselves.
Tradeoffs
  • 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
  • Requires updating the visitor interface when new element types are added
  • Can be awkward if the object structure changes often
Practical fit
Languages
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
Platforms
  • web
  • backend
  • mobile
  • ui kits
  • cross-platform systems
  • Web
  • Backend
  • Mobile
  • UI kits
  • Cross-platform systems
  • Web
  • Backend
  • Mobile
  • UI kits
  • Cross-platform systems
Integration notesComposite 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.Visitor is useful for AST processing, reporting, cart calculations, and exporting object structures to alternate formats.