Architecting Web Solutions With Popular Web Development Design Patterns

Have you ever had to start a project from scratch while working on a team?  

Getting started may be difficult due to the challenges in selecting the right programming languages, architectures, and other essential technologies in the tech stack. This is where web design patterns come in.

Web development design patterns are essential to web development architecture because they provide standard solutions to often-occurring challenges in web design. Rather than offering specific components of the software, web development patterns are just concepts that can manage recurrent topics optimally.

The web development ecology has changed dramatically in the last several years. While some popular web development design patterns may no longer be as valuable as once, others have evolved to solve new problems using advanced technology.

There are many design patterns used in modern web development. This article will briefly show you all web development design patterns and describe some of the best design patterns.

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What are web development design patterns?

In web development, a design pattern is a generic, repeatable response to a frequently occurring issue within a specific environment. Any programming language or technology can use patterns. 

They come in handy when you need to fix a problem that keeps coming up during the development process. Web development patterns are tried-and-tested solutions to common problems in web development. 

Patterns are not laws or regulations. You can't just mindlessly follow them and always expect to get the desired outcome. Instead, they stand for a series of solutions for various circumstances. 

Web development design patterns are independent of specific platforms or technology. Instead, they give developers abstractions to use while they create the program.  

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What are the types of web development design patterns

Web development patterns are classified into three categories based on their application: 

1. Creational design patterns
2. Structural design patterns
3. Behavioural design patterns

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1. Creational design patterns

A Creational design pattern concerns object creation and initialization, guiding which objects are created for a particular context. These design patterns are used to enhance flexibility and reuse existing code.

The following are the categories under the Creational web development design pattern.

• Factory method
• Abstract factory
• Builder
• Singleton

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2. Structural Design Patterns

A Structural design pattern deals with class and object composition or arranging objects and classes for building bigger structures.

The following are the categories under the Structural web development design pattern.

• Adapter
• Bridge
• Composite
• Flyweight
• Façade
• Proxy

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3. Behavioral Design Patterns

A Behavioural design pattern deals with object communication and assigning responsibilities among objects.

The following are the categories under the Behavioural web development design pattern.

• Memento
• Mediator
• Iterator
• Interpreter
• Command
• Chain of responsibility
• Observer
• State
• Strategy
• Template method:
• Visitor

Now we have an idea about web development design patterns. In the next section, we will learn in detail about some of the most important web design patterns.

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What are the most used design patterns in web development?

Here, we are going to discuss the top four web development architecture patterns.

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1. Singleton design pattern

The Singleton design pattern is a creational web development design pattern that guarantees a class has only one instance and offers a single point of access globally.

A class or object can only have one instance under the singleton pattern, which stores that instance in a global variable. You may use it to ensure only one class instance. That stops many instances from running concurrently, which could result in odd issues. 

This is often implemented in the constructor. The Singleton pattern's main objective is to control an application's global state.

Here's an example implementation of the Singleton design pattern.

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     class Singleton {
      constructor() {
        // Private variable to store the instance
        this.instance = null;
      }
    
      static getInstance() {
        if (!this.instance) {
          // Create a new instance if it doesn't exist
          this.instance = new Singleton();
        }
        return this.instance;
      }
    
      // Other methods and properties of the class...
    }
    
    // Usage:
    const instance1 = Singleton.getInstance();
    const instance2 = Singleton.getInstance();
    
    console.log(instance1 === instance2); // Output: true
     

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2. Strategy design pattern 

The Strategy design pattern allows you to change an algorithm's behaviour at runtime. It enables you to create a family of algorithms, each wrapped in an object, and have all of the algorithms in the family have a similar interface. 

This means you can change the implementation of a set of algorithms while leaving the rest of the code unchanged. 

This is accomplished by encapsulating various algorithms (strategies) in a single interface and then dynamically picking the approach based on the context of the request during runtime.

This approach has the benefit of allowing you to modify your application's behaviour without having to replace existing code. This approach is especially beneficial for designing a component that must be highly configurable.

The Strategy pattern is a typical design pattern among web developers and has been utilized by many large software companies.

Here's an example implementation of the strategy design pattern.

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     class PaymentStrategy:
        def pay(self, amount):
            pass
    
    class CreditCardStrategy(PaymentStrategy):
        def pay(self, amount):
            print(f"Paying ${amount} with Credit Card")
    
    class PayPalStrategy(PaymentStrategy):
        def pay(self, amount):
            print(f"Paying ${amount} with PayPal")
    
    class ShoppingCart:
        def __init__(self, payment_strategy):
            self.payment_strategy = payment_strategy
    
        def checkout(self, amount):
            self.payment_strategy.pay(amount)
    
    # Usage:
    credit_card_strategy = CreditCardStrategy()
    paypal_strategy = PayPalStrategy()
    
    cart1 = ShoppingCart(credit_card_strategy)
    cart1.checkout(100)
    
    cart2 = ShoppingCart(paypal_strategy)
    cart2.checkout(200)
     

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3. Decorator design pattern

A Decorator is an object that wraps around a target object and adds functionality or data. By wrapping an object in an object of a Decorator class, the Decorator pattern enables you to dynamically alter an object's behaviour at runtime. 

The Decorator does not know the insides of the original object; instead, it encapsulates the original and adds functionality.

The Decorator pattern is comparable to JavaScript inheritance in that it surrounds objects to give additional functionality rather than subclassing and extending functionality. This is handy for adding additional tasks to an existing object without inheriting from it.

Decorator patterns are useful for adding specialized functionality to your functions or methods. The Decorator pattern uses an object-oriented programming technique in which a function is passed as an input to a different function, which wraps the original function with new additional logic before returning it.

Here's an example implementation of the Decorator design pattern.

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     function User(name) {
        this.name = name;
    
        this.say = function () {
            console.log("User: " + this.name);
        };
    }
    
    function DecoratedUser(user, street, city) {
        this.user = user;
        this.name = user.name;  // ensures interface stays the same
        this.street = street;
        this.city = city;
    
        this.say = function () {
            console.log("Decorated User: " + this.name + ", " +
                this.street + ", " + this.city);
        };
    }
    
    function run() {
    
        var user = new User("Olivia");
        user.say(); // User: Olivia
    
        var decorated = new DecoratedUser(user, "Broadway", "New York");
        decorated.say(); // Decorated User: Olivia, Broadway, New York
    }
     

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4. Observer design pattern

If you have used the MVC pattern, you will know about the Observer design pattern. The Model component is a subject, and the View component is an observer of that subject. The subject you choose is in charge of the data and its current state. 

Then there are observers, separate components that get that data from the subject as it is updated.

This design aims to provide a centralized interface for objects to register with, allowing them to be easily plugged into the system during runtime. The observer can be associated with multiple subjects and receive notifications from all of them.

Here's an example implementation of the observer design pattern.

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     class Subject:
        def __init__(self):
            self.observers = []
    
        def attach(self, observer):
            self.observers.append(observer)
    
        def detach(self, observer):
            self.observers.remove(observer)
    
        def notify(self, message):
            for observer in self.observers:
                observer.update(message)
    
    
    class Observer:
        def update(self, message):
            pass
    
    
    class ConcreteObserver(Observer):
        def update(self, message):
            print(f"Received message: {message}")
    
    
    # Usage:
    subject = Subject()
    
    observer1 = ConcreteObserver()
    observer2 = ConcreteObserver()
    
    subject.attach(observer1)
    subject.attach(observer2)
    
    subject.notify("Hello observers!")
    
    subject.detach(observer2)
    
    subject.notify("Observer 2 detached. Hello again!")
     

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What are the benefits of using web development design patterns?

Here are the key advantages of using web development architecture patterns in your web application.

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Reusability

Developers can create reusable structures and components due to web development patterns. They offer a standardized approach to resolving frequent issues, making reusing code across many projects simpler. This avoids creating new functionality for comparable functions, saving time and effort.

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Scalability

Web development design patterns encourage code that is modular and loosely coupled. This makes it possible for web apps to scale more quickly. It is easier to manage growth and incorporate new features or modifications when developers can add or edit components without affecting the entire code.

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Maintainability

Web applications are easier to maintain due to design patterns in UI development. They offer well-defined structures and guidelines, which makes it simpler for developers to comprehend, troubleshoot, and alter the codebase. Design patterns improve teamwork and make it easier to maintain code consistency when several developers are working on a project.

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Flexibility

Web applications are more flexible because of design patterns. They make it possible for developers to create flexible solutions to shifting needs. Developers can replace one component without affecting the others by isolating concerns and using patterns like the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, giving them more flexibility to respond to changing requirements.

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Performance

By ensuring the generation of a single instance of a resource across an application, specific design patterns, such as the singleton pattern, can enhance performance. Design patterns can reduce memory use and execution speed, enhancing performance by eliminating repeated object formation.

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Testability

Testing web apps is made simpler by design patterns. They encourage encapsulation and modularity, making developing unit tests for distinct components easier. Design patterns support automated testing frameworks and procedures, enhancing the application's quality and dependability.

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Standardization

For web development, design patterns offer a shared vocabulary and methodology. They create generally acknowledged fixes for persistent issues, encouraging the standardization of procedures within the development industry. This makes it easier for novices to a project or technology to learn and enables developers to communicate and work more efficiently.

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Why are web development design patterns essential in React development?

Web development patterns are essential in React development because they provide developers with a proven strategy to solve typical software development challenges.

They contribute to the promotion of code reuse, which saves time and effort in the long run. Understanding design patterns can also help you enhance your React applications' general structure and organization. 

Most significantly, if you are developing a React web application, avoid manual UI development and instead use DhiWise React Builder. The app builder speeds up web UI development and provides clean code which is easy to scale and maintain.  

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