Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing patterns at the Tampa C# Meetup.
Purpose The factory pattern, formally called the** Abstract Factory Pattern**, abstracts the creation of a concrete class.Basics Using this pattern requires 4 things.
A base class or interface that the created concrete classes derive from An abstract class or interface base with a method that has a return type signature from #1 One or more concrete classes derived from the type in #1 A number of concrete creation classes derived from the type in #2 with an implementation to the creation method returning a concrete class
Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing patterns at the Tampa C# Meetup.
Introduction No introduction to patterns is complete without the ubiquitous explanation of why we need patterns. Rather then re-invent this wheel, yet again, I will reference others and refer you to a couple books.
In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code.