Imagine walking into a construction site. Workers are bustling around, materials are scattered everywhere, and everyone seems busy—but there’s no blueprint. The end result? Likely a mess of mismatched structures and inefficiencies. Software development without design patterns feels much the same—chaotic, inconsistent, and prone to failure. Design patterns are the invisible scaffolding that ensure a project doesn’t just function but thrives.
I used to think design patterns were just theoretical concepts that lived in textbooks. But over time, I realized they’re practical tools, offering proven strategies for solving common problems. Think of them as reusable templates. For example, the Observer Pattern feels like a magazine subscription: you “subscribe” to changes, and when something updates, you’re notified immediately. Then there’s the Factory Pattern, which acts like a vending machine: you input your selection, and out comes a neatly packaged object.
My first brush with design patterns wasn’t glamorous. I was building an app for my mom, a math teacher, to gamify classroom participation. It started simple but soon ballooned into a tangle of interconnected logic. Debugging became a nightmare. That’s when I stumbled upon the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. It was a revelation. By separating the app’s data (Model), user interface (View), and logic (Controller), I turned a chaotic project into something manageable—and learned a valuable lesson about clean architecture.
Fast-forward to my work on UHSpace, a platform for promoting student products and services. Here, I leaned heavily on the Singleton Pattern. Since the platform required managing global state (like user authentication), ensuring a single instance of the user object across the app was crucial. This avoided conflicts and simplified state management. Similarly, the Decorator Pattern helped me dynamically add features to our product listings, like showing discounts or labels for limited-time offers, without rewriting the entire component.
What I love most about design patterns is how they encourage a mindset of reusability and abstraction. Every time I face a complex problem, I don’t start from scratch. Instead, I ask myself: “What’s a pattern that fits here?” This mindset not only saves time but also results in code that’s easier to understand and maintain.
For instance, while implementing Firebase Authentication for Manoa Now, I realized I needed a way to handle dynamic user interactions. The Strategy Pattern came to the rescue, allowing me to switch between login methods (email/password, Google login, etc.) without creating rigid, hard-to-change code. It was like having a Swiss Army knife for user authentication.
What design patterns taught me is that coding isn’t just about getting things to work—it’s about making things work elegantly. Whether it’s the Builder Pattern for assembling complex objects step-by-step or the Command Pattern for encapsulating requests as objects, these patterns are tools that elevate my code from functional to thoughtful.
But they’re not a silver bullet. I’ve also learned the importance of knowing when not to use a pattern. Overengineering by forcing a pattern into a problem can create unnecessary complexity. Balance is key.
Design patterns are more than just abstract concepts—they’re the guiding principles that keep software from becoming a house of cards. For me, they’re the difference between a project I dread revisiting and one I’m proud to showcase. As I continue building apps, I know these patterns will remain my trusted companions, quietly shaping every line of code.
Note: This essay was crafted with assistance from ChatGPT to refine structure and grammar. The examples and personal experiences are entirely my own.