Analysis
Compare patterns
Evaluate design patterns side by side across intent, tradeoffs, languages, and integration fit.
Choose patterns
Select up to 3 patterns
Current selection
3 of 3 selected
You can now review the differences across the comparison table below.
Analysis
Pattern comparison
Reviewing 3 patterns.
| Criteria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basics | |||
| Category | structural | behavioral | behavioral |
| Summary | Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies and let clients work with individual and composite objects through the same interface. | — | — |
| Intent | Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies and let clients work with individual and composite objects through the same interface. | Define an object that encapsulates communication between a set of objects, keeping them from referring to each other directly. | Separate an algorithm from the object structure it operates on by moving behavior into visitor objects. |
| Decision factors | |||
| Problem | A system needs to treat individual objects and groups of objects uniformly, but the hierarchy becomes difficult to manage with separate code paths. | Multiple objects need to coordinate behavior, but direct references between them create tight coupling and complex dependencies. | You need to perform operations across a set of different object types without stuffing all the logic into the objects themselves. |
| Tradeoffs |
|
|
|
| Practical fit | |||
| Languages |
|
|
|
| Platforms |
|
|
|
| Integration notes | Composite 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. | Mediator is useful for chat systems, form coordination, workflow orchestration, and any domain where many components must collaborate without knowing about each other. | Visitor is useful for AST processing, reporting, cart calculations, and exporting object structures to alternate formats. |