Analysis

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Abstract FactoryAdapterBridgeBuilderChain of ResponsibilityCommandCompositeDecoratorFacadeFactory MethodFlyweightInterpreterIteratorMediatorMementoObserverPrototypeProxySingletonStateStrategyTemplate MethodVisitor

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Analysis

Pattern comparison

Reviewing 3 patterns.

Criteria
structuralFlyweightView pattern
behavioralIteratorView pattern
behavioralVisitorView pattern
Basics
Categorystructuralbehavioralbehavioral
Summary———
IntentUse sharing to support large numbers of fine-grained objects efficiently by separating shared intrinsic state from per-object extrinsic state.Provide a way to access elements of an aggregate sequentially while hiding the underlying representation.Separate an algorithm from the object structure it operates on by moving behavior into visitor objects.
Decision factors
ProblemA system creates a large number of similar objects, but storing all of their state separately uses too much memory.A collection needs to be traversed without exposing how it is stored internally.You need to perform operations across a set of different object types without stuffing all the logic into the objects themselves.
Tradeoffs
  • 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
  • Can add extra classes and abstraction for simple collections
  • May be unnecessary when built-in language iteration is already enough
  • 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 notesFlyweight is useful when thousands or millions of similar objects need to be represented efficiently, such as trees, glyphs, tiles, or UI tokens.Iterator is useful for pagination, custom collections, ordered traversal, and any case where clients should not know the internal data structure.Visitor is useful for AST processing, reporting, cart calculations, and exporting object structures to alternate formats.