Design patterns have always been a standard solution when coming up with ways to solve common issues that occur in software design. They are not pieces of code you simply copy and paste for different situations instead, we can think of them like blueprints or templates. This helps with organization and structuring your code in a way that makes it more flexible and easier to understand. There are various types of design patterns, ranging from creational to structural and behavioral. All of which have various snippets of code built into it that makes the design patterns applicable for various situations. For example, a creational pattern may be used to help with how objects are created. It will used snippets of code labeled “Singleton”, “Factory Method, and “Builder”. All of which serve a different role into making the design pattern what it is. So what is the purpose of design patterns? Design patterns provide various benefits to a designer’s code along with saving time, making the code more understandable, and improving the scalability of the code. Implementing design patterns helps to elevate a designer’s code to the next level. Everyone has tendencies when it comes to coding and they come across lots of common problems especially when starting from zero. Having access to something that instantly solves various problems for a coder while also improving their code is a very valuable asset along with the fact that it saves lots of time when it comes to troubleshooting these errors.
I first discovered design patterns through this class when exploring ways to improve my coding skills. To me personally, I value efficiency when it comes to coding since, depending on the situation, coding requires lots of time and effort. However, while researching I did come across design patterns which functioned as a template that would not only elevate my code but also save me lots of time when it came to troubleshooting my code for errors. In addition it would make my code more structured and easier to read. A method I recently utilized on a recent assignment was “Component-Based Architecture (Composition Pattern)”. Common in coding using React, Composition Pattern can be thought of as an approach to software desing where a system is built upon reusable and self-contained units called components. Each component in this strucutre has a different purpose ranging from the Footer, Nav, etc. Each component is independent from the others and can be composed together to form more complex UIs.
Overall, I feel that learning and understanding design patterns is worthwhile especially when you start to code more complicated projects in the future. Having the ability to eliminate common issues in codes is a major time saver and will overall improve the quality of the code. Despite there being many different design patterns out there, I feel that there is purpose to trying to learn about many different design patterns to deal with various situations. When I discovered the existence of design patterns, it made coding much easier and it took less time than before. Understanding design patterns has personally helped excel my coding skills and will help me in further becoming a better designer than I was the day before.