Summary

I know this was a lot of logistics and theory to get through – congratulations on sticking with it even if you were itching to start coding. This chapter has a lot of useful resources and content that you can (and should) refer to as you continue your design pattern adventure. Remember, we defined good software as flexible, reusable, and maintainable, so keep that at the forefront of your mind when reading each chapter.

Design patterns are internal systems that solve specific problems, and half the battle is matching the problem you have to the pattern that solves it best. There’s a time and place to use design patterns, but overusing (or misusing) them can lead to complexity you don’t need and time costs you don’t have to spend. Your ultimate job (which is down to me) is to come out of the other end of this book literate in the language of design patterns.

In the next chapter, we’ll dive into our first official design pattern – the Singleton pattern – and get a taste of thinking in systems!