PatternsArchitecture Patterns
Architecture Patterns
Essential design patterns for front-end - Strategy, Factory, Singleton, Observer, Mediator, Proxy, and React-specific patterns
Architecture Patterns
Design patterns are reusable solutions to common problems in software development. This section covers essential patterns for front-end, organized by categories.
📚 Pattern Categories
🏗️ Structure and Creation
How we organize and create objects:
- Strategy Pattern - Swap algorithms dynamically without if/else
- Factory Pattern - Function that decides which object to create
- Singleton Pattern - Ensures a single instance (Analytics, Firebase)
- Adapter Pattern - Transform incompatible interfaces (server schema normalization)
- Registry Pattern - Dynamic type-to-component mapping
🔄 Behavior
How system parts communicate:
- Observer Pattern - Foundation of reactivity (Redux, Context API)
- Mediator Pattern - Components communicate via mediator, avoiding "spaghetti code"
- Proxy Pattern - Intercepts operations on objects (MobX, Vue reactivity)
⚛️ React/Component Design
Patterns specific to React components:
- Compound Components - Flexible components that share state (Radix UI)
- Higher-Order Components - HOC for reusable logic
- Render Props vs Hooks - When to use render props or hooks
- Container/Presenter Pattern - Separate logic (Container) from visual (Presenter)
🔌 Extensibility
Patterns for extensible systems:
- Dependency Injection - Inject dependencies externally
- Plugin Architecture - Extensible systems with plugins
- Event-Driven Architecture - Pub/sub for decoupling
🎯 When to Use Each Pattern
Strategy Pattern
- Form validation
- Cache systems
- Rendering strategies
- Payment systems
Factory Pattern
- Creating modals/toasts
- API services
- Validation systems
- UI component variants
Singleton Pattern
- Analytics services
- Global configurations
- API clients
- Loggers
Adapter Pattern
- Server schema normalization
- API versioning
- Third-party integrations
- Data format conversion
Registry Pattern
- Dynamic component rendering
- Form builders
- Plugin systems
- Content management
- Analytics services
- Global configurations
- API clients
- Loggers
Observer Pattern
- State Management (Redux, Zustand)
- Event systems
- Themes and configurations
- Authentication
Mediator Pattern
- Complex forms
- Chat systems
- Drag and drop
- Dashboards
Proxy Pattern
- Data validation
- Observability (MobX)
- Request caching
- Lazy loading
📖 Additional Resources
- Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software - Classic book by Gang of Four
- Refactoring Guru - Design Patterns - Visual explanations of patterns
- Patterns.dev - Modern patterns for JavaScript
🔗 Relationship with Other Patterns
Many patterns complement each other:
- Strategy + Factory - Factory creates strategies
- Observer + Mediator - Mediator uses Observer to notify
- Proxy + Observer - Proxy detects changes, Observer notifies
- Container/Presenter + Hooks - Hooks extract logic from Containers
Tip: Start simple. Don't force patterns where they're not needed. Use patterns when code becomes cleaner and more maintainable, not just because "it's a pattern".