The abstract factory

The abstract factory design pattern is a generalization of the factory method. Basically, an abstract factory is a (logical) group of factory methods, where each factory method is responsible for generating a different kind of object.

We are going to discuss some examples, use cases, and a possible implementation.

Real-world examples

The abstract factory is used in car manufacturing. The same machinery is used for stamping the parts (doors, panels, hoods, fenders, and mirrors) of different car models. The model that is assembled by the machinery is configurable and easy to change at any time.

In the software category, the factory_boy (https://github.com/FactoryBoy/factory_boy) package provides an abstract factory implementation for creating Django models in tests. It is used for creating instances of models that support test-specific attributes. This is important because, this way, your tests become readable and you avoid sharing unnecessary code.

Note

Django models are special...