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Creational Design Pattern in Java
According to Wikipedia, in software engineering, Creational Design Patterns are Design Patterns in Java that deal with Object Creation and Initialization Mechanisms i.e. trying to create objects in a manner that is suitable to a given situation. In simple words, we can say that the Creational Design Pattern deals with Object Creation and Initialization. This Design Pattern gives the programmer more flexibility in deciding which objects need to be created for a given situation.
These Design Patterns provide a way to easily create objects while hiding the creation logic. This gives the program more flexibility in deciding which objects be created for a given use case.
When to use the Creational Design Pattern in Real-Time Applications?
In Real-Time Applications, the project is created with a lot of classes. A lot of classes mean we are dealing with a lot of objects. So we need to create different objects (like new Customer(), new Product(), new Invoice(), new Payment(), etc.) for an E-Commerce Application. If the object creation logic based on some condition is implemented in the client code, then it leads to lots of complicated logic in the client code. Client code means the class that is going to consume the Customer Object, Product Object, Invoice Object, etc. by calling the methods and properties of such objects.
That means if the object creation and initialization logic are not centralized, then it leads to a very complicated client code. The Creational Design Pattern helps us to centralize the object creation and initialization logic and depending upon the condition, it will create, initialize, and returns the appropriate object to the client, and then the client then can consume the object by calling the necessary methods and properties. If this is not clear at the moment, then don’t worry, once we start discussing the Creational Design Patterns, you will definitely understand this concept.
Creational Design Patterns Examples in Java:
The following patterns are included under creational design patterns:
- Factory Design Pattern: This is widely used in Java. It provides an interface for creating objects while allowing subclasses to determine which class should be instantiated. The factory pattern delegates the responsibility of instantiating a parent abstract class to its concrete sub-classes. When creating an object, the specific class type may not be known, so a creator class uses its factory method to separate the logic of identifying the class type.
- Abstract Factory Design Pattern: This pattern provides an interface for creating groups of related or dependent objects without specifying their concrete classes. It allows for the creation of objects that belong to the same family or theme without having to know their specific types.
- Singleton Design Pattern: This pattern ensures that only one instance of a class exists throughout the application and provides a global access point to that instance. It restricts the instantiation of a class to a single object and is useful when exactly one object is needed to coordinate actions across the system.
- Prototype Design Pattern: This pattern specifies the kind of object to create using a prototypical instance and creates new objects by copying this prototype. It allows for the creation of new objects by cloning an existing object, rather than creating a new object from scratch.
- Builder Design Pattern: This pattern constructs complex objects using a step-by-step approach and separates the construction of an object from its representation. It allows for the creation of complex objects with many parts by breaking down the construction process into smaller steps.
- Object Pool Design Pattern: The Object Pool design pattern provides a solution by reusing and managing a pool of pre-initialized objects. By maintaining a pool of reusable objects, the pattern eliminates the overhead of object creation and destruction, improving performance and resource utilization.
In the next article, I am going to discuss the Factory Design Pattern in Java with Real-Time Examples. Here, in this article, I try to give a brief introduction to the Creational Design Pattern in Java. I hope you understand the need for and use of the Creational Design Pattern in Java.