Analysis
Compare patterns
Evaluate design patterns side by side across intent, tradeoffs, languages, and integration fit.
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Analysis
Pattern comparison
Reviewing 3 patterns.
| Criteria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basics | |||
| Category | structural | creational | behavioral |
| Summary | Wrap an object with other objects that implement the same contract so responsibilities can be layered dynamically. | — | — |
| Intent | Wrap an object with other objects that implement the same contract so responsibilities can be layered dynamically. | Specify the kinds of objects to create using a prototypical instance, and create new objects by cloning that prototype. | Encapsulate a family of algorithms or behaviors behind a common contract so they can be selected and swapped cleanly. |
| Decision factors | |||
| Problem | A system needs to add optional behaviors to an object without creating many subclasses for every feature combination. | Creating new objects from scratch can be expensive or repetitive when the system needs many similar variants. | A system needs to switch between interchangeable behaviors without hardcoding branching logic everywhere. |
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| Integration notes | Decorators work well for cross-cutting concerns such as logging, retry, caching, compression, and telemetry because each layer keeps the same interface while adding one concern. | Prototype is useful when object creation is expensive, when many near-identical objects are needed, or when cloning preconfigured templates is simpler than rebuilding them. | Strategies can cross codebases through shared contracts, API selection rules, or runtime configuration. |