In my software design course, I recently learned about how using design patterns helps you code better. I thought it would be a good review to go over the concepts this article introduces and potentially link it to things from class and maybe even add some things we did not get through during class.
The three categories Frederico Haag, a computer science engineering student at PoliMi, wrote about are creational patterns, structural patterns, and behavioral patterns.
Based on the design pattern I chose to work on for my individual assignment, I wanted to focus on the facade section–which is a structural pattern. The main take-away of the facade is how it “provides a simplified interface to a larger body of code.” I like how the name itself actually relates to the word facade’s definition: “an outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality” (Dictionary.com). As a person who likes the aesthetic side of things, this seems like a convenient design pattern, especially if people who are not working on the code end up seeing it; it may be less overwhelming to some.
Another one of the options my class had for the same assignment above is for the decorator class–which is also a structural pattern. This “adds behavior to an object dynamically without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class.” For some reason, when I imagine this concept, I think of a decorated cake. Since it is useful for adding the same behavior to many classes; it’s like when you add a spread-out layer of fondant or frosting to a cake, it could either cover the whole section(s) of cake or just some, but it doesn’t mess up the inside of the cake.
Overall, I found this content very useful to reiterate what I had learned and Haag incorporated visual UML diagram examples along with actual snippets of code to help us compare and contrast what he was showing. The content has not changed how I think about the subject because there is no arguing here, it just shows different ways people can structure their code overall. I do appreciate how Haag also listed “typical use cases” for some of them as it makes it easier to imagine.
Article: https://medium.com/federicohaag/coding-better-using-design-patterns-4d7385a9e7ac
“Forget about automating your regression tests” is some bold advice from Bas Dijkstra, who has experience as a test automation consultant. It made me wonder what exactly led him to making this kind of statement on regression test scripts and his article, On Ending the Regression Automation Fixation, covered various reasons why.
samanthatran.com 