Analysis

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Analysis

Pattern comparison

Reviewing 3 patterns.

Criteria
creationalAbstract FactoryView pattern
structuralFlyweightView pattern
behavioralMediatorView pattern
Basics
Categorycreationalstructuralbehavioral
SummaryProvide an interface for creating families of related objects without specifying their concrete classes.——
IntentProvide an interface for creating families of related objects without specifying their concrete classes.Use sharing to support large numbers of fine-grained objects efficiently by separating shared intrinsic state from per-object extrinsic state.Define an object that encapsulates communication between a set of objects, keeping them from referring to each other directly.
Decision factors
ProblemClient code needs to create families of related objects, but hardcoding concrete classes makes the code rigid and hard to swap.A system creates a large number of similar objects, but storing all of their state separately uses too much memory.Multiple objects need to coordinate behavior, but direct references between them create tight coupling and complex dependencies.
Tradeoffs
  • Adds an extra abstraction layer.
  • Can overcomplicate simple object creation.
  • Makes family-wide swapping and consistency much easier.
  • 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
  • The mediator can become large and complex if it takes on too much coordination logic.
  • Centralizing behavior can make the mediator a single point of failure if it is poorly designed.
Practical fit
Languages
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • react
  • angular
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
  • typescript
  • java
  • python
  • angular
  • react
  • react-native
  • csharp
  • dotnet
Platforms
  • applications
  • ui systems
  • integration layers
  • Web
  • Backend
  • Mobile
  • UI kits
  • Cross-platform systems
  • Web
  • Backend
  • Mobile
  • UI kits
  • Cross-platform systems
Integration notesAbstract Factory is especially useful when your app must produce matching sets of related objects for a theme, provider, platform, or pipeline.Flyweight is useful when thousands or millions of similar objects need to be represented efficiently, such as trees, glyphs, tiles, or UI tokens.Mediator is useful for chat systems, form coordination, workflow orchestration, and any domain where many components must collaborate without knowing about each other.