Creational Design Patterns

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Published Dec 27, 2021Updated Jan 18, 2023
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Creational design patterns concern themselves with the instantiation of objects. At the time of creation, additional logic may be needed to decide what or how object types need to be created.

Structure

Most creational design patterns generally abide by the following structure:

Creational Design Pattern Structure

  • The “Creator” declares the interface for the new object and returns it.
  • The “Implementer” applies the object’s interface.

Use Cases

Creational design patterns promote independence and flexibility for object creation. Instead of complex, hard-coded behaviors, objects are defined by a set of smaller behaviors that are more maintainable. They can develop more complex behaviors later on. Some common scenarios for applying creational design patterns include the following:

  • How objects are created should be separate from the system they inhabit.
  • Sets of related objects are made to be used together.
  • Only the object interface is visible while its implementation is hidden.
  • Independent, complex objects need different representations.
  • A subclass is created to implement an object created by a superclass.
  • Class instances are specified at run-time.
  • The client can access a single instance at all times.
  • The instance can be extended without being modified.

The five main creational design patterns are outlined in the entries below:

Creational Design Patterns

Abstract Factory Pattern
Relies on a common interface for multiple factories and defers instantiation logic to their concrete model classes.
Builder Pattern
Decouples the responsibility of object creation from the desired objects class.
Factory Pattern
Defers instantiation logic of a parent abstract class to its concrete sub-classes.
Prototype Pattern
Adds cloning functionality to an objects class.
Singleton Pattern
Ensures a class has only one object instantiated during the programs lifecycle.

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