There are a wealth of reasons for understanding and recognizing software patterns.  However, these three crucial software design patterns appear in many different environments.  They might even rise to the level of things you should know even without knowing what they are called.  These patterns are prevalent and used heavily in modern software solutions.

Model-View-Controller (MVC)

The first pattern in our list is an architectural approach that is found in many modern web applications.  We have seen advances beyond this simple and reliable pattern.  Nevertheless, this approach is perfect for common CRUD applications.  That makes it an excellent starting point for a minimally viable product while allowing for extensive growth.  As always, a solid foundation is a key to future success with any architecture.

Product Catalog: Build an MVC Application to Manage Our Catalog

Singleton

The Singleton is one of the least known patterns by name while still understanding its general purpose.  I have come across numerous developers that have not heard of this pattern.  However, once it is explained, they understand and have often seen it in use many times.  I am not sure why this name seems so elusive, but that does not lower its value.  The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are particularly important in the way modern software is created.  We tend to use a large number of class instances in an application, and Singletons can help us manage those along with memory and race condition errors.

Software Design – The Singleton Pattern

Iterator

This example is one of the most important software design patterns in modern programming.  It is found in most frameworks and even natively in manner languages.  We rarely create a program that does not use loops and collections.  Therefore, a pattern for looping through a collection is going to appear over and over.  That is where the Iterator comes in.  It is often provided for us, and we do not need to create it from scratch.  Nevertheless, we do need to be comfortable using the pattern.  Good programming standards practically demand it.

Software Design – The Iterator Pattern

Rob Broadhead

Rob is a founder of, and frequent contributor to, Develpreneur. This includes the Building Better Developers podcast. He is also a lifetime learner as a developer, designer, and manager of software solutions. Rob is the founder of RB Consulting and has managed to author a book about his family experiences and a few about becoming a better developer. In his free time, he stays busy raising five children (although they have grown into adults). When he has a chance to breathe, he is on the ice playing hockey to relax or working on his ballroom dance skills.

Leave a Reply