Adjust the Sails
25 Apr 2024
Organized Chaos
When it comes to designing a program, my initial thought is “where do I begin?”. Alright, okay so that’s a little scary at first but with a bit of direction we take off. We begin the journey with a vision of creating something functional, and responsive. Things are looking good. Then with a long blink to relieve my eyes, coming back into focus it can appear that all that hard work is looking more confusing than 2 seconds ago. That’s where design patterns show up to lend a helping hand in revisualizing the structure for efficient, and readable code.
Design patterns are tried-and-true fixes for typical issues that arise during the software development process. Consider them as reusable blueprints or templates that programmers might use to address particular problems with their code. These patterns aid in the organization of code, improving its scalability, making it more maintainable, and easier to understand. They offer an organized method for creating software by compiling best practices and tested fixes for common design issues. Helping to save time and effort by using design patterns.
Becoming a Skilled Sailor
In my own coding experience, design patterns I appreciate using are those that provide improvements in areas that would otherwise require a double-blink to recalibrate my thought process. Design patterns I have used recently include those described as creational, or behavioral patterns. The prototype is useful when creating new objects because it allows you to create a template using an existing object, and modify it as needed. Which is helpful by simplifying object initialization. Streamlining the object creation process, and making it more manageable. Another design pattern I am familiar with is the null object pattern, where what appears to be nothing is actually something. The null object behaves like a real object but implements default behavior or does nothing when its methods are called. This pattern helps avoid null checks, and a more maintainable code.
Finding assistance in utilizing design patterns is a hero amongst many other developed methods that any programmer can benefit from. There are many more I have yet to better familiarize myself with. So far on this journey it’s been a whirlwind of experience from which I’m learning to enjoy the breeze or gale force winds, however they come.