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 | behavioral | behavioral | behavioral |
| Summary | — | — | — |
| Intent | Represent grammar rules as objects and interpret sentences by evaluating an abstract syntax tree or expression chain. | 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 | |||
| Problem | You need to define a small language or expression grammar and evaluate it consistently across the application. | 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. |
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| Practical fit | |||
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| Integration notes | Interpreter is useful for calculators, rule engines, simple DSLs, and command parsing systems where a structured grammar must be evaluated. | 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. |