link: Design Principles, Design Patterns

Design Principle vs Design Pattern

Content

Design Principles

Design principles are overarching rules that help developers design better software architectures. They are language-independent and focused on broader aspects of software design:

Important

• Principles Overview: Provides general guidelines and philosophies that can be applied to improve software design and development.
• SOLID Principles: Includes principles like the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP), which advises that a class should have only one reason to change, enhancing the modularity and maintainability of the code.

For instance, SRP is a concept that does not dictate how to implement features in your code but rather serves as a guideline to keep each class focused on a single functionality.

Design Patterns

On the other hand, design patterns are practical, reusable solutions to common problems in software design. They are more specific than design principles and provide a way to solve design issues in particular scenarios:

Important

• Pattern Overview: Offers detailed, reusable solutions for frequently encountered problems in object-oriented software design.
• Examples of Patterns: Patterns such as Singleton, which ensures a class has only one instance and provides a global point of access to it, offer specific implementation guidelines that are universally applicable and tested.

Design patterns are derived from the accumulated experience of skilled software engineers and are embodied in the widely recognized Gang of Four (GoF) patterns, including Abstract Factory, Factory Method, Singleton, and Command, among others.

Summary

Summary

While design principles and design patterns both aim to enhance software quality, they differ significantly in their application. Principles provide a foundation for decision making in software design, promoting good design habits, whereas patterns offer specific solutions to design problems, making them more about ‘how’ rather than ‘why’. Understanding when to use each can significantly impact the success and scalability of software projects.