Over the past couple of month, I have shared some trending design patterns for frontend developers. These include patterns like Singleton, Facade, Observer, Publisher/Subscriber and more. Today, I want to summarize some of the key points and benefits of these patterns and how they can be used to improve your frontend development process.

What are Design Patterns

Design patterns are reusable solutions to common problems that occur in software design. They represent the best practices used by experienced object-oriented software developers. These patterns can speed up the development process by providing a proven way of resolving frequent issues.

Top Design Patterns

1. Singleton Pattern

The Singleton Pattern is a type of design pattern that restricts the creation of a class to only one instance. This is useful in scenarios where a single point of control or coordination is required. In other words, it ensures that a class has only one instance and provides a global point of access to it.

A real use of the Singleton Pattern is managing a configuration settings object in a large-scale application, like a web app. This ensures only one instance of the configuration object (holding settings like database strings and API keys) exists, providing a single access point and preventing conflicts.

Learn more about the Singleton Pattern and how to code it

2. Facade Pattern

The Facade Pattern provides a simplified interface to a larger body of code. It makes a software library easier to read and understand, and wraps a poorly designed collection of APIs with a single well-designed API.

In a complex e-commerce platform, the Facade Pattern unifies multiple third-party services for payment, shipping, and inventory into a single interface. This simplifies interactions, making tasks like order placement easier, and keeps the main application code cleaner and more understandable.

Learn more about the Facade Pattern and how to code it

3. Observer Pattern

The Observer Pattern allows an object (known as the subject) to notify other objects (known as observers) when its state changes. This is useful in scenarios where a change to one object requires changing others, and where the actual set of objects is expected to change dynamically.

Learn more about the Observer Pattern and how to code it

3. Publisher/Subscriber Pattern

The Publisher/Subscriber Pattern is a messaging pattern where senders of messages, known as publishers, don't program the messages to be sent directly to specific receivers, called subscribers. Instead, published messages are categorized into classes without the publishers knowing the subscribers' identities. It's an effective way to handle event-driven programming.

In the Publisher/Subscriber pattern, publishers don't communicate directly with subscribers. Instead, these messages are classified and sent to subscribers by the message bus. This can provide more flexibility and scalability in complex systems. To dive deeper into the difference between PubSub and Observer patterns and their differences, check out this detailed article.

Learn more about the Publisher/Subscriber ****Pattern and how to code it

Real-time Data Engine

Architecting software to sync data between different instances can be challenging, but not the core business focus. The solution is the Real-time Data Engine tools, specifically SuperViz. It provides real-time collaboration and communication for web apps. SuperViz allows an easy-to-integrate tool for developers for the creation of a room where an event published by one participant is broadcast to all others across different devices and networks, ensuring real-time updates and a seamless experience.

SuperViz provides the infrastructure necessary to build real-time, collaborative applications. This includes the ability to also catch these events on your backend using webhooks, and as well to publish an event with a simple HTTP request, to name a few features.

Learn more about Real-time Data Engine and how to use it

5. Adapter Pattern

The Adapter Pattern allows the interface of an existing class to be used as another interface. It is often used to make existing classes work with others without modifying their source code, which can be particularly useful when they are from different libraries or frameworks.

A real case scenario of the Adapter Pattern can be seen in integrating legacy systems with modern applications. For instance, suppose you have an old payment processing system with a proprietary API that doesn't conform to the modern RESTful API standards used by your new e-commerce platform. By using an Adapter, you can create a wrapper that translates the requests and responses between the old system and the new platform, allowing seamless communication without altering the legacy system's code.

Learn more about the Adapter Pattern and how to code it

6. Composite Pattern

The Composite Pattern allows you to compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies. It lets clients treat individual objects and compositions of objects uniformly, making it easier to work with complex structures or recursive algorithms.

The Composite Pattern is useful for developing a restaurant's ordering app menu system. A menu can include individual items like "Burger" or composite items like "Combo Meal" (burger and fries). This pattern allows the app to uniformly handle operations like displaying the menu, calculating prices, or applying discounts on both single items and combos, simplifying management and expansion as new items or combos are added.

Learn more about the Composite Pattern and how to code it

7. Builder Pattern

The Builder Pattern allows for the step-by-step construction of complex objects. It separates the construction of a complex object from its representation, enabling the same construction process to create different representations. This pattern is particularly useful when building objects with many optional parameters or when the creation process involves several steps.

A real case scenario for the Builder Pattern can be seen in the construction of a complex user interface component, such as a customizable dashboard. By using the Builder Pattern, developers can create a dashboard with various optional widgets like graphs, charts, and tables, each configured with specific parameters such as data sources, styles, and update intervals. This pattern allows developers to assemble the dashboard step-by-step, ensuring that each component is properly configured before the final dashboard is created, providing flexibility and control over the customization process.

Learn more about the Builder Pattern and how to code it

Conclusion

Using design patterns can enhance frontend development by offering organized solutions to common challenges, making your code easier to maintain and scale. Patterns like Singleton, Facade, Observer, Publisher/Subscriber, Adapter, Composite, and Builder ensure a strong, flexible application architecture. Experiment with these patterns to find the best fit for your workflow and project needs.

If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment below.

Super Hackathon Invitation - Win $5.000

So, while you are here, let me invite you to participate in our upcoming Super Hackathon this August!

From Aug 9-31, you'll be challenge to transform your virtual interactions with SuperViz’s real-time communication and data synchronization platform and a chance to win a prize of $5,000.

Register now to receive updates, tips and resources and get ready to hack!