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Prototype pattern
The prototype pattern is a creational design pattern in software development. It is used when the types of objects to create is determined by a prototypical instance, which is cloned to produce new objects. This pattern is used to avoid subclasses of an object creator in the client application, like the factory method pattern does, and to avoid the inherent cost of creating a new object in the standard way (e.g., using the 'new' keyword) when it is prohibitively expensive for a given application. To implement the pattern, the client declares an abstract base class that specifies a pure virtual clone() method. Any class that needs a "polymorphic constructor" capability derives itself from the abstract base class, and implements the clone() operation. The client, instead of writing code that invokes the "new" operator on a hard-coded class name, calls the clone() method on the prototype, calls a factory method with a parameter designating the particular concrete derived class desired, or invokes the clone() method through some mechanism provided by another design pattern. The mitotic division of a cell — resulting in two identical cells — is an example of a prototype that plays an active role in copying itself and thus, demonstrates the Prototype pattern. When a cell splits, two cells of identical genotype result. In other words, the cell clones itself.[1] OverviewThe prototype design pattern is one of the 23 Gang of Four design patterns that describe how to solve recurring design problems to design flexible and reusable object-oriented software, that is, objects that are easier to implement, change, test, and reuse.[2]: 117 The prototype design pattern solves problems like:[3]
Creating objects directly within the class that requires (uses) the objects is inflexible because it commits the class to particular objects at compile-time and makes it impossible to specify which objects to create at run-time. The prototype design pattern describes how to solve such problems:
This enables configuration of a class with different StructureUML class and sequence diagram In the above UML class diagram,
the UML class diagram Rules of thumbSometimes creational patterns overlap—there are cases when either prototype or abstract factory would be appropriate. At other times, they complement each other: abstract factory might store a set of prototypes from which to clone and return product objects.[2]: 126 Abstract factory, builder, and prototype can use singleton in their implementations.[2]: 81, 134 Abstract factory classes are often implemented with factory methods (creation through inheritance), but they can be implemented using prototype (creation through delegation).[2]: 95 Often, designs start out using Factory Method (less complicated, more customizable, subclasses proliferate) and evolve toward abstract factory, prototype, or builder (more flexible, more complex) as the designer discovers where more flexibility is needed.[2]: 136 Prototype does not require subclassing, but it does require an "initialize" operation. Factory method requires subclassing, but does not require initialization.[2]: 116 Designs that make heavy use of the composite and decorator patterns often can benefit from Prototype as well.[2]: 126 A general guideline in programming suggests using the For instance, in the context of designing a system for managing bank account transactions, it may be necessary to duplicate the object containing account information to conduct transactions while preserving the original data. In such scenarios, employing the ExampleC++11 ExampleThis C++23 implementation is based on the pre-C++98 implementation in the book. Discussion of the design pattern along with a complete illustrative example implementation using polymorphic class design are provided in the C++ Annotations. import std;
enum class Direction {North, South, East, West};
class MapSite {
public:
virtual void enter() = 0;
virtual MapSite* clone() const = 0;
virtual ~MapSite() = default;
};
class Room : public MapSite {
public:
Room(): roomNumber(0) {}
Room(int n): roomNumber(n) {}
void setSide(Direction d, MapSite* ms) {
std::println("Room::setSide {} ms", d);
}
virtual void enter() {}
virtual Room* clone() const { // implements an operation for cloning itself.
return new Room(*this);
}
Room& operator=(const Room&) = delete;
private:
int roomNumber;
};
class Wall: public MapSite {
public:
Wall() {}
virtual void enter() {}
virtual Wall* clone() const {
return new Wall(*this);
}
};
class Door: public MapSite {
public:
Door(Room* r1 = nullptr, Room* r2 = nullptr)
:room1(r1), room2(r2) {}
Door(const Door& other)
:room1(other.room1), room2(other.room2) {}
virtual void enter() {}
virtual Door* clone() const {
return new Door(*this);
}
virtual void initialize(Room* r1, Room* r2) {
room1 = r1;
room2 = r2;
}
Door& operator=(const Door&) = delete;
private:
Room* room1;
Room* room2;
};
class Maze {
public:
void addRoom(Room* r) {
std::println("Maze::addRoom {}", r);
}
Room* roomNo(int) const {
return nullptr;
}
virtual Maze* clone() const {
return new Maze(*this);
}
virtual ~Maze() = default;
};
class MazeFactory {
public:
MazeFactory() = default;
virtual ~MazeFactory() = default;
virtual Maze* makeMaze() const {
return new Maze;
}
virtual Wall* makeWall() const {
return new Wall;
}
virtual Room* makeRoom(int n) const {
return new Room(n);
}
virtual Door* makeDoor(Room* r1, Room* r2) const {
return new Door(r1, r2);
}
};
class MazePrototypeFactory: public MazeFactory {
public:
MazePrototypeFactory(Maze* m, Wall* w, Room* r, Door* d):
prototypeMaze(m), prototypeRoom(r), prototypeWall(w), prototypeDoor(d)
{}
virtual Maze* makeMaze() const {
// creates a new object by asking a prototype to clone itself.
return prototypeMaze->clone();
}
virtual Room* makeRoom(int) const {
return prototypeRoom->clone();
}
virtual Wall* makeWall() const {
return prototypeWall->clone();
}
virtual Door* makeDoor(Room* r1, Room* r2) const {
Door* door = prototypeDoor->clone();
door->initialize(r1, r2);
return door;
}
MazePrototypeFactory(const MazePrototypeFactory&) = delete;
MazePrototypeFactory& operator=(const MazePrototypeFactory&) = delete;
private:
Maze* prototypeMaze;
Room* prototypeRoom;
Wall* prototypeWall;
Door* prototypeDoor;
};
// If createMaze is parameterized by various prototypical room, door, and wall objects, which it then copies and adds to the maze, then you can change the maze's composition by replacing these prototypical objects with different ones. This is an example of the Prototype (133) pattern.
class MazeGame {
public:
Maze* createMaze(MazePrototypeFactory& m) {
Maze* aMaze = m.makeMaze();
Room* r1 = m.makeRoom(1);
Room* r2 = m.makeRoom(2);
Door* theDoor = m.makeDoor(r1, r2);
aMaze->addRoom(r1);
aMaze->addRoom(r2);
r1->setSide(Direction::North, m.makeWall());
r1->setSide(Direction::East, theDoor);
r1->setSide(Direction::South, m.makeWall());
r1->setSide(Direction::West, m.makeWall());
r2->setSide(Direction::North, m.makeWall());
r2->setSide(Direction::East, m.makeWall());
r2->setSide(Direction::South, m.makeWall());
r2->setSide(Direction::West, theDoor);
return aMaze;
}
};
int main() {
MazeGame game;
MazePrototypeFactory simpleMazeFactory(new Maze, new Wall, new Room, new Door);
game.createMaze(simpleMazeFactory);
}
The program output is: Maze::addRoom 0x1160f50
Maze::addRoom 0x1160f70
Room::setSide 0 0x11613c0
Room::setSide 2 0x1160f90
Room::setSide 1 0x11613e0
Room::setSide 3 0x1161400
Room::setSide 0 0x1161420
Room::setSide 2 0x1161440
Room::setSide 1 0x1161460
Room::setSide 3 0x1160f90
See also The Wikibook Computer Science Design Patterns has a page on the topic of: Prototype implementations in various languages References
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