Amol Pawar

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by complex systems in your software projects? You’re not alone! The Composite Design Pattern is here to help simplify those tangled webs, but surprisingly, it often gets overlooked. Many of us miss out on its benefits simply because we aren’t familiar with its basics or how to apply it in real-life scenarios.

But don’t worry—I’ve got your back! In this blog, I’ll walk you through the essentials of the Composite Design Pattern, breaking down its structure and showing you practical, real-world examples. By the end, you’ll see just how powerful this pattern can be for streamlining your code. So let’s jump right in and start making your design process easier and more efficient!

Composite Design Pattern

The Composite Design Pattern is a structural pattern that allows you to treat individual objects and compositions of objects uniformly. The pattern is particularly useful when you have a tree structure of objects, where individual objects and groups of objects need to be treated in the same way.

In short, it lets you work with both single objects and groups of objects in a similar manner, making your code more flexible and easier to maintain.

When to Use the Composite Design Pattern

The Composite pattern is super handy when you’re working with a bunch of objects that fit into a part-whole hierarchy.

Wait, what’s a part-whole hierarchy?

A part-whole hierarchy is basically a structure where smaller parts come together to form a larger system. It’s a way of organizing things so that each part can function on its own, but also as part of something bigger. Think of it like a tree or a set of nested boxes — each piece can be treated individually, but they all fit into a larger whole.

In software design, this idea is key to the Composite Design Pattern. It lets you treat both individual objects and collections of objects in the same way. Here’s how it works:

• Leaf objects: These are the basic, standalone parts that don’t contain anything else.
• Composite objects: These are more complex and can hold other parts, both leaf and composite, forming a tree-like structure.

You’ll find this in many places, like:

• UI Components: A window might have buttons, text fields, and panels. A panel can have more buttons or even nested panels inside.
• File Systems: Files and directories share similar operations — open, close, getSize, etc. Directories can hold files or other directories.
• Drawing Applications: A simple shape, like a circle or rectangle, can stand alone or be part of a bigger graphic made up of multiple shapes.

Now, let’s look at a simple example.

Imagine we’re building a graphic editor that works with different shapes — simple ones like circles, rectangles, and lines. But we also want to create more complex drawings by grouping these shapes together. The tricky part is that we want to treat both individual shapes and groups of shapes the same way. That’s where the Composite Pattern comes in handy.

Structure of the Composite Pattern

In the Composite Pattern, there are usually three key pieces:

• Component: This is an interface or abstract class that lays out the common operations that both simple objects and composite objects can perform.
• Leaf: This represents an individual object in the structure. It’s a basic part of the system and doesn’t have any children.
• Composite: This is a group of objects, which can include both leaves and other composites. It handles operations by passing them down to its children.

Composite Design Pattern in Kotlin

Now, let’s dive into how to implement the Composite Pattern in Kotlin.

We’ll model a graphics system where shapes like circles and rectangles are treated as Leaf components, and a group of shapes (like a drawing) is treated as a Composite.

Step 1: Defining the Component Interface

The first step is to define a Shape interface that all shapes (both individual and composite) will implement.

interface Shape {
    fun draw()
}

Step 2: Creating the Leaf Components

Now, let’s implement two basic shape classes: Circle and Rectangle. These classes will be the Leaf nodes in our Composite structure, meaning they do not contain any other shapes.

class Circle(private val name: String) : Shape {
    override fun draw() {
        println("Drawing a Circle: $name")
    }
}

class Rectangle(private val name: String) : Shape {
    override fun draw() {
        println("Drawing a Rectangle: $name")
    }
}

Here, both Circle and Rectangle implement the Shape interface. They only define the draw() method because these are basic shapes.

Step 3: Creating the Composite Component

Next, we will create a Composite class called Drawing, which can hold a collection of shapes (both Circle and Rectangle, or even other Drawing objects).

class Drawing : Shape {
    private val shapes = mutableListOf<Shape>()

    // Add a shape to the drawing
    fun addShape(shape: Shape) {
        shapes.add(shape)
    }

    // Remove a shape from the drawing
    fun removeShape(shape: Shape) {
        shapes.remove(shape)
    }

    // Drawing the entire group of shapes
    override fun draw() {
        println("Drawing a group of shapes:")
        for (shape in shapes) {
            shape.draw()  // Delegating the draw call to child components
        }
    }
}

Here’s what’s happening:

• Drawing class implements Shape and contains a list of Shape objects.
• It allows adding and removing shapes.
• When draw() is called on the Drawing, it delegates the drawing task to all the shapes in its list.

Step 4: Bringing It All Together

Now, let’s look at an example that demonstrates how the Composite pattern works in action.

fun main() {
    // Create individual shapes
    val circle1 = Circle("Circle 1")
    val circle2 = Circle("Circle 2")
    val rectangle1 = Rectangle("Rectangle 1")

    // Create a composite drawing of shapes
    val drawing1 = Drawing()
    drawing1.addShape(circle1)
    drawing1.addShape(rectangle1)

    // Create another drawing with its own shapes
    val drawing2 = Drawing()
    drawing2.addShape(circle2)
    drawing2.addShape(drawing1)  // Adding a drawing within a drawing

    // Draw the second drawing, which contains a nested structure
    drawing2.draw()
}

Output

Drawing a group of shapes:
Drawing a Circle: Circle 2
Drawing a group of shapes:
Drawing a Circle: Circle 1
Drawing a Rectangle: Rectangle 1

We first create individual Circle and Rectangle shapes.We then create a Drawing (composite) that contains circle1 and rectangle1.Finally, we create another composite Drawing that includes circle2 and even the previous Drawing. This shows how complex structures can be built from simpler components.

Real-World Examples

Now, let’s go further and explore a few more real-world examples.

Composite Pattern in Shopping Cart System

We’ll create a system to represent a product catalog, where a product can be either a single item (leaf) or a bundle of items (composite).

Step 1: Define the Component Interface

The Component defines the common operations. Here, the Product interface will have a method showDetails to display the details of each product.

// Component
interface Product {
    fun showDetails()
}

Step 2: Implement the Leaf Class

The Leaf class represents individual products, like a single item in our catalog.

// Leaf
class SingleProduct(private val name: String, private val price: Double) : Product {
    override fun showDetails() {
        println("$name: $price")
    }
}

In this class:

• name: Represents the product name.
• price: Represents the price of the product.

The showDetails method simply prints the product’s name and price.

Step 3: Implement the Composite Class

Now, let’s implement the Composite class, which can hold a collection of products (either single or composite).

// Composite
class ProductBundle(private val bundleName: String) : Product {
    private val products = mutableListOf<Product>()

    fun addProduct(product: Product) {
        products.add(product)
    }

    fun removeProduct(product: Product) {
        products.remove(product)
    }

    override fun showDetails() {
        println("$bundleName contains the following products:")
        for (product in products) {
            product.showDetails()
        }
    }
}

Here:

• The ProductBundle class maintains a list of Product objects.
• The addProduct method lets us add new products to the bundle.
• The removeProduct method lets us remove products from the bundle.
• The showDetails method iterates through each product and calls its showDetails method.

Step 4: Putting It All Together

Now that we have both single and composite products, we can build a catalog of individual items and bundles.

fun main() {
    // Individual products
    val laptop = SingleProduct("Laptop", 1000.0)
    val mouse = SingleProduct("Mouse", 25.0)
    val keyboard = SingleProduct("Keyboard", 75.0)

    // A bundle of products
    val computerSet = ProductBundle("Computer Set")
    computerSet.addProduct(laptop)
    computerSet.addProduct(mouse)
    computerSet.addProduct(keyboard)

    // Another bundle
    val officeSupplies = ProductBundle("Office Supplies")
    officeSupplies.addProduct(SingleProduct("Notebook", 10.0))
    officeSupplies.addProduct(SingleProduct("Pen", 2.0))

    // Master bundle
    val shoppingCart = ProductBundle("Shopping Cart")
    shoppingCart.addProduct(computerSet)
    shoppingCart.addProduct(officeSupplies)

    // Display details of all products
    shoppingCart.showDetails()
}

Here,

• We first create individual products (laptop, mouse, keyboard).
• Then, we group them into a bundle (computerSet).
• We create another bundle (officeSupplies).
• Finally, we add both bundles to a master bundle (shoppingCart).
• When calling shoppingCart.showDetails(), the Composite Pattern allows us to display all the products, both single and grouped, using the same showDetails() method.

Output

Shopping Cart contains the following products:
Computer Set contains the following products:
Laptop: 1000.0
Mouse: 25.0
Keyboard: 75.0
Office Supplies contains the following products:
Notebook: 10.0
Pen: 2.0

Composite Pattern in File System

Let’s implement the Composite Design Pattern in a file system where files and directories share common operations like opening, deleting, and renaming. In this scenario:

• Files are treated as individual objects (leaf nodes).
• Directories can contain both files and other directories (composite nodes).

Step 1: Define the FileSystemComponent Interface

The Component will be an interface that defines the common operations for both files and directories. We’ll include methods like open, delete, rename, and showDetails.

// Component
interface FileSystemComponent {
    fun open()
    fun delete()
    fun rename(newName: String)
    fun showDetails()
}

Step 2: Implement the File Class (Leaf)

The File class is a leaf node in the composite pattern. It represents individual files that implement the common operations defined in the FileSystemComponent interface.

// Leaf
class File(private var name: String) : FileSystemComponent {
    override fun open() {
        println("Opening file: $name")
    }

    override fun delete() {
        println("Deleting file: $name")
    }

    override fun rename(newName: String) {
        println("Renaming file from $name to $newName")
        name = newName
    }

    override fun showDetails() {
        println("File: $name")
    }
}

Step 3: Implement the Directory Class (Composite)

The Directory class is the composite node in the pattern. It can hold a collection of files and other directories. The directory class implements the same operations as files but delegates actions to its child components (files or directories).

// Composite
class Directory(private var name: String) : FileSystemComponent {
    private val contents = mutableListOf<FileSystemComponent>()

    fun add(component: FileSystemComponent) {
        contents.add(component)
    }

    fun remove(component: FileSystemComponent) {
        contents.remove(component)
    }

    override fun open() {
        println("Opening directory: $name")
        for (component in contents) {
            component.open()
        }
    }

    override fun delete() {
        println("Deleting directory: $name and its contents:")
        for (component in contents) {
            component.delete()
        }
        contents.clear()  // Remove all contents after deletion
    }

    override fun rename(newName: String) {
        println("Renaming directory from $name to $newName")
        name = newName
    }

    override fun showDetails() {
        println("Directory: $name contains:")
        for (component in contents) {
            component.showDetails()
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Putting It All Together

Now, let’s use the File and Directory classes to simulate a file system where directories contain files and possibly other directories.

fun main() {
    // Create individual files
    val file1 = File("file1.txt")
    val file2 = File("file2.txt")
    val file3 = File("file3.txt")

    // Create a directory and add files to it
    val dir1 = Directory("Documents")
    dir1.add(file1)
    dir1.add(file2)

    // Create another directory and add files and a subdirectory to it
    val dir2 = Directory("Projects")
    dir2.add(file3)
    dir2.add(dir1)  // Adding the Documents directory to the Projects directory

    // Display the structure of the file system
    dir2.showDetails()

    // Perform operations on the file system
    println("\n-- Opening the directory --")
    dir2.open()

    println("\n-- Renaming file and directory --")
    file1.rename("new_file1.txt")
    dir1.rename("New_Documents")

    // Show updated structure
    dir2.showDetails()

    println("\n-- Deleting directory --")
    dir2.delete()

    // Try to show the structure after deletion
    println("\n-- Trying to show details after deletion --")
    dir2.showDetails()
}

Here,

• We create individual files (file1.txt, file2.txt, and file3.txt).
• We create a directory Documents and add file1 and file2 to it.
• We create another directory Projects, add file3 and also add the Documents directory to it, demonstrating that directories can contain both files and other directories.
• We display the contents of the Projects directory, which includes the Documents directory and its files.
• We perform operations like open, rename, and delete on the files and directories.
• After deletion, we attempt to show the details again to verify that the contents are removed.

Output

Directory: Projects contains:
File: file3.txt
Directory: Documents contains:
File: file1.txt
File: file2.txt

-- Opening the directory --
Opening directory: Projects
Opening file: file3.txt
Opening directory: Documents
Opening file: file1.txt
Opening file: file2.txt

-- Renaming file and directory --
Renaming file from file1.txt to new_file1.txt
Renaming directory from Documents to New_Documents
Directory: Projects contains:
File: file3.txt
Directory: New_Documents contains:
File: new_file1.txt
File: file2.txt

-- Deleting directory --
Deleting directory: Projects and its contents:
Deleting file: file3.txt
Deleting directory: New_Documents and its contents:
Deleting file: new_file1.txt
Deleting file: file2.txt

-- Trying to show details after deletion --
Directory: Projects contains:

The Composite Pattern allows us to treat directories (composite objects) just like files (leaf objects). This means that operations such as opening, renaming, deleting, and showing details can be handled uniformly for both files and directories. The hierarchy can grow naturally, supporting nested structures where directories can contain files or even other directories. Overall, this implementation showcases how the Composite Design Pattern effectively models a real-world file system in Kotlin, allowing files and directories to share common behavior while maintaining flexibility and scalability.

Benefits of the Composite Pattern

• Simplicity: You can treat individual objects and composites in the same way.
• Flexibility: Adding or removing components is easy since they follow a consistent interface.
• Transparency: Clients don’t need to worry about whether they’re working with a single item or a composite.

Drawbacks

• Complexity: The pattern can introduce complexity, especially if it’s used in scenarios that don’t involve a natural hierarchy.
• Overhead: If not carefully implemented, it may lead to unnecessary overhead when dealing with very simple structures.

When to Use the Composite Pattern?

• When you want to represent part-whole hierarchies of objects.
• When you want clients to be able to treat individual objects and composite objects uniformly.
• When you need to build complex structures out of simpler objects but still want to treat the whole structure as a single entity.

Conclusion

And there you have it! We’ve unraveled the Composite Design Pattern together, and I hope you’re feeling inspired to give it a try in your own projects. It’s all about simplifying those complex systems and making your life a little easier as a developer.

As you move forward, keep an eye out for situations where this pattern can come in handy. The beauty of it is that once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it!

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I’d love to hear about your experiences with the Composite Design Pattern or any cool projects you’re working on. Happy coding, and let’s make our software as clean and efficient as possible!

A few days ago, I shared my thoughts on the Adapter Design Pattern—where I noticed it seamlessly bridges the gap between different systems. Now, as I dive into the Bridge Design Pattern, I see it’s more than just about bridging gaps; it’s about creating flexibility, decoupling abstraction from implementation, and making your code as adaptable as possible.

In this blog, we’ll explore:

• What exactly is the Bridge Design Pattern?
• Its structure and how it works under the hood
• Practical, real-world examples that bring the concept to life
• And perhaps most importantly, how it differs from the Adapter Pattern (because, yes, there’s a key difference!).

So, let’s dive in and discover what makes the Bridge Design Pattern a game-changer in clean, scalable software architecture.

What is the Bridge Design Pattern?

Let’s start with the basics: the Bridge Design Pattern is a structural pattern designed to decouple an abstraction from its implementation. By separating these two components, you can vary them independently, which enhances the system’s flexibility and scalability. This means you can extend either the abstraction or the implementation without disrupting the existing system.

In simpler terms, the Bridge Pattern allows you to modify what your code does without affecting how it does it. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry; it will become clearer as we go on.

Essentially, the Bridge Pattern promotes object composition over inheritance, making it particularly useful when dealing with complex class hierarchies that can lead to a proliferation of subclasses as variations increase.

Why is this important? As your project grows, you might find that every new feature requires adjustments to existing code, which can quickly lead to chaos. The Bridge Pattern helps you avoid this mess by keeping your code flexible and easier to manage.

Why Use the Bridge Design Pattern?

Here’s an example you might relate to: imagine you’re building a simple drawing app. You have different shapes—let’s say Circle and Rectangle. You also want to paint them in different colors, like Red and Green. Sounds easy, right? But if you approach this by creating classes like RedCircle, GreenRectangle, GreenCircle, etc., you’ll quickly end up with a ton of redundant classes.

                     Shape
                       |
       ----------------|----------------
      |                                 |
   Rectangle                          Circle
      |                                 |
   -------------                   -------------
  |             |                 |             |
RedRectangle  GreenRectangle   RedCircle    GreenCircle

With Bridge Pattern 

                    Shape                                                 
                      |
       ---------------|-----------------
      |                                 |
  Rectangle (Color)                 Circle (Color)
  
  
  
  

                            -------- Color ----------
                           |                         |
                         Red                       Green

Enter the Bridge Pattern. It allows you to keep the Shape and Color separate so that you can easily mix and match them without creating dozens of new classes. It’s like having a separate “shape drawer” and “color palette” that you can combine however you like.

Components of the Bridge Design Pattern

The Bridge Design Pattern is a structural pattern that decouples an abstraction from its implementation, allowing them to vary independently. This pattern is particularly useful when you want to avoid a proliferation of classes that arise from combining multiple variations of abstractions and implementations.

Here,

• Abstraction: This defines the abstract interface and contains a reference to the implementer. The abstraction typically provides a higher-level interface that clients use.
• Refined Abstraction: This extends the abstraction and may provide additional functionality or specificity. It can also override behaviors defined in the abstraction.
• Implementer: This defines the interface for the implementation classes. It does not have to match the abstraction interface; in fact, it can be quite different. The implementer interface can have multiple implementations.
• Concrete Implementers: These are specific implementations of the implementer interface. Each concrete implementer provides a different implementation of the methods defined in the implementer interface.

How the Bridge Pattern Works

1. Decoupling: The Bridge Pattern decouples the abstraction from the implementation. This means that you can change or extend either side independently.
2. Client Interaction: The client interacts with the abstraction interface, and the abstraction can delegate calls to the implementation without the client needing to know about it.
3. Flexibility: You can add new abstractions and implementations without modifying existing code, promoting adherence to the Open/Closed Principle.

Let’s take a more detailed example to illustrate how the Bridge Pattern works.

Example: Shapes and Colors

Scenario: You are building a drawing application that allows users to create shapes with different colors.

Abstraction: Shape

• Methods: draw()

Refined Abstraction: Circle and Rectangle

• Each shape has a draw() method that uses the color implementation.

Implementer: Color

• Method: fill()

Concrete Implementers: Red and Green

• Each color has a specific implementation of the fill() method.

// Implementer interface
interface Color {
    fun fill()
}

// Concrete Implementers
class Red : Color {
    override fun fill() {
        println("Filling with Red color.")
    }
}

class Green : Color {
    override fun fill() {
        println("Filling with Green color.")
    }
}

// Abstraction
abstract class Shape(protected val color: Color) {
    abstract fun draw()
}

// Refined Abstraction
class Circle(color: Color) : Shape(color) {
    override fun draw() {
        print("Drawing Circle. ")
        color.fill()
    }
}

class Rectangle(color: Color) : Shape(color) {
    override fun draw() {
        print("Drawing Rectangle. ")
        color.fill()
    }
}

// Client Code
fun main() {
    val redCircle: Shape = Circle(Red())
    redCircle.draw()  // Output: Drawing Circle. Filling with Red color.

    val greenRectangle: Shape = Rectangle(Green())
    greenRectangle.draw()  // Output: Drawing Rectangle. Filling with Green color.
}

• Separation of Concerns: The Bridge Pattern promotes separation of concerns by dividing the abstraction from its implementation.
• Flexibility and Extensibility: It provides flexibility and extensibility, allowing new abstractions and implementations to be added without modifying existing code.
• Avoiding Class Explosion: It helps in avoiding class explosion that occurs when you have multiple variations of abstractions and implementations combined together.

The Bridge Design Pattern is particularly useful in scenarios where you want to manage multiple dimensions of variability, providing a clean and maintainable code structure.

Real World Example

Let’s consider a scenario where we are building a notification system. We have different types of notifications (e.g., Email, SMS, Push Notification), and each notification can be sent for different platforms (e.g., Android, iOS).

If we don’t use the Bridge pattern, we might end up with a class hierarchy like this:

• AndroidEmailNotification
• IOSEmailNotification
• AndroidSMSNotification
• IOSMSNotification
• …

This quickly becomes cumbersome and difficult to maintain as the number of combinations increases. The Bridge Design Pattern helps us to handle such cases more efficiently by separating the notification type (abstraction) from the platform (implementation).

Before implementing, here’s a quick recap of what the components of the Bridge Pattern are.

1. Abstraction: Defines the high-level interface.
2. Refined Abstraction: Extends the abstraction and adds additional operations.
3. Implementor: Defines the interface for implementation classes.
4. Concrete Implementor: Provides concrete implementations of the implementor interface.

Let’s implement the Bridge Design Pattern in Kotlin for our notification system.

Step 1: Define the Implementor (Platform Interface)

interface NotificationSender {
    fun sendNotification(message: String)
}

The NotificationSender interface acts as the Implementor. It defines the method sendNotification() that will be implemented by concrete platform-specific classes.

Step 2: Concrete Implementors (Platform Implementations)

Now, we’ll create concrete classes that implement NotificationSender for different platforms.

class AndroidNotificationSender : NotificationSender {
    override fun sendNotification(message: String) {
        println("Sending notification to Android device: $message")
    }
}

class IOSNotificationSender : NotificationSender {
    override fun sendNotification(message: String) {
        println("Sending notification to iOS device: $message")
    }
}

Here, AndroidNotificationSender and IOSNotificationSender are Concrete Implementors. They provide platform-specific ways of sending notifications.

Step 3: Define the Abstraction (Notification)

Next, we define the Notification class, which represents the Abstraction. It contains a reference to the NotificationSender interface.

abstract class Notification(protected val sender: NotificationSender) {
    abstract fun send(message: String)
}

The Notification class holds a sender object that allows it to delegate the task of sending notifications to the appropriate platform implementation.

Step 4: Refined Abstractions (Different Types of Notifications)

Now, we’ll create refined abstractions for different types of notifications.

class EmailNotification(sender: NotificationSender) : Notification(sender) {
    override fun send(message: String) {
        println("Email Notification:")
        sender.sendNotification(message)
    }
}

class SMSNotification(sender: NotificationSender) : Notification(sender) {
    override fun send(message: String) {
        println("SMS Notification:")
        sender.sendNotification(message)
    }
}

Here, EmailNotification and SMSNotification extend the Notification class and specify the type of notification. They use the sender to send the actual message via the appropriate platform.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

Let’s see how we can use the Bridge Design Pattern in action:

fun main() {
    val androidSender = AndroidNotificationSender()
    val iosSender = IOSNotificationSender()

    val emailNotification = EmailNotification(androidSender)
    emailNotification.send("You've got mail!")

    val smsNotification = SMSNotification(iosSender)
    smsNotification.send("You've got a message!")
}

Output

Email Notification:
Sending notification to Android device: You've got mail!
SMS Notification:
Sending notification to iOS device: You've got a message!

What’s happening here?

• We created an AndroidNotificationSender and IOSNotificationSender for the platforms.
• Then, we created EmailNotification and SMSNotification to handle the type of message.
• Finally, we sent notifications to both Android and iOS devices using the same abstraction, but different platforms.

Advantages of Bridge Design Pattern

The Bridge Design Pattern provides several advantages:

• Decoupling Abstraction and Implementation: You can develop abstractions and implementations independently. Changes to one won’t affect the other.
• Improved Flexibility: The pattern allows you to extend either the abstraction or the implementation without affecting the rest of the codebase.
• Reduced Class Explosion: It prevents an explosion of subclasses that would otherwise occur with direct inheritance.
• Better Maintainability: Since abstraction and implementation are separated, code becomes cleaner and easier to maintain.

Adapter & Bridge: Difference in Intent

When it comes to design patterns, understanding the difference between the Adapter and Bridge patterns is crucial for effective software development. The Adapter pattern focuses on resolving incompatibilities between two existing interfaces, allowing them to work together seamlessly. In this scenario, the two interfaces operate independently, enabling them to evolve separately over time. However, the coupling between them can be unforeseen, which may lead to complications down the road. On the other hand, the Bridge pattern takes a different approach by connecting an abstraction with its various implementations. This pattern ensures that the evolution of the implementations aligns with the base abstraction, creating a more cohesive structure. In this case, the coupling between the abstraction and its implementations is well-defined and intentional, promoting better maintainability and flexibility. By understanding these distinctions, developers can choose the right pattern based on their specific needs, leading to more robust and adaptable code.

When to Use the Bridge Pattern

Consider using the Bridge Pattern in the following scenarios:

• When your system has multiple dimensions of variations (like different shapes and colors), and you want to minimize subclassing.
• When you need to decouple abstraction from implementation, allowing both to evolve independently.
• When you want to reduce the complexity of a class hierarchy that would otherwise grow out of control with multiple subclasses.

Conclusion

The Bridge Design Pattern is a lifesaver when you have multiple dimensions that need to change independently. By separating the abstraction (what you want to do) from the implementation (how you do it), this pattern ensures your code remains flexible, clean, and easy to extend.

In our notification system example, we applied the pattern, but it can also be used in countless other scenarios, such as database drivers, payment gateways, or even UI frameworks.

Hopefully, this guide has given you a solid understanding of the Bridge Pattern in Kotlin. I encourage you to implement it in your projects and feel free to adapt it as needed!

The Adapter Design Pattern is a developer’s secret weapon when it comes to making incompatible systems work together smoothly without altering their original code. Acting as a bridge, it allows different components to communicate effortlessly. If you’ve ever hit a roadblock where two pieces of code just wouldn’t “talk” to each other, then you’ve faced the exact challenge that the Adapter Pattern is designed to solve!

In this blog, we’re diving deep into everything about the Adapter Design Pattern—its structure, types (like Class and Object adapters), examples, real-world use cases, and how it’s applied in Android development. Whether you’re working with legacy systems or building new features, this pattern is key to simplifying integration and boosting code flexibility.

Grab a coffee mug—this blog’s going to be a big one! Get ready for a complete guide that will take your understanding of design patterns to the next level. Let’s get started!

What is the Adapter Design Pattern?

The Adapter Design Pattern helps connect two things that wouldn’t normally work together because they don’t “fit” or communicate the same way. It acts as a bridge that makes an existing class compatible with another class you need, without changing either one.

Think of it like using an adapter to plug something into an outlet that has a different shape—it allows them to work together without altering either the plug or the outlet.

Imagine you’re traveling in Europe with your US laptop. The European wall outlet provides 220 volts, while your laptop’s power adapter is designed for a standard AC plug and expects 110 volts. They’re incompatible, right? That’s where a power adapter steps in, converting the European outlet’s power to match what your laptop needs.

In software, the Adapter Pattern works in the same way. It allows two incompatible interfaces to work together without changing their core functionality. Just like the power adapter converts the outlet’s power, a software adapter “translates” between systems to make them compatible.

Instead of rewriting code, you create an adapter class that bridges the gap—keeping everything working smoothly.

In short, the Adapter Pattern is your go-to solution for making incompatible systems work together, just like your handy travel adapter!

Defination of Adapter Design Pattern

The Adapter design pattern (one of the structural design patterns) acts as a bridge between two incompatible interfaces. It allows an existing class (which has a specific interface) to be used with another class (which expects a different interface), without changing their existing code. It does this by creating an intermediary adapter class that translates the method calls from one interface to the other.

Why is the Adapter called ‘glue’ or ‘wrapper’?

Sometimes, a class has the features a client needs, but its way of interacting (interface) doesn’t match what the client expects. In these cases, we need to transform the existing interface into a new one that the client can work with, while still utilizing the original class.

Suppose you have an existing software system that requires integrating a new vendor library, but the new vendor has designed their interfaces differently from the previous vendor. What should you do? Write a class that adapts the new vendor’s interface to the one you’re expecting.

The Adapter Pattern helps us achieve this by creating a wrapper class around the original object. This wrapper is called an adapter, and the original object is known as the adaptee. The adapter acts as a bridge, allowing the client to use the adaptee’s functionality in a way that meets their needs.

To expand on this, the adapter is often referred to as “glue” because it metaphorically binds together two different interfaces, making them work smoothly as one. Similarly, it is called a “wrapper” because it encloses the original object (the adaptee) and presents a modified interface that the client can use without needing to change the original object.

The Structure of Adapter Pattern

The Adapter Design Pattern involves four components:

1. Target (Interface): The desired interface that the client expects.
2. Adaptee: The existing class that has the behavior we want to use but with an incompatible interface.
3. Adapter: A wrapper class that implements the Target interface and translates the requests from the client to the Adaptee.
4. Client: The entity that interacts with the Target interface.

Let’s revisit our example of a European wall socket and a US laptop’s AC plug for better understanding.

• Adaptee Interface: This is the existing interface or system that needs to be adapted. It has its own methods that may not be compatible with what the client expects.
• Target Interface: This is the interface that the client is designed to work with. The client will call methods from this interface.
• Request Method: This is the method defined in the target interface that the client will use.
• Adapter:
  The adapter acts as a bridge between the target interface and the adaptee interface. It implements the target interface and holds a reference to an instance of the adaptee. The adapter translates calls from the target interface into calls to the adaptee interface.
• Translated Request Method: This method in the adapter takes the request from the client and converts it into a format that the adaptee can understand.

Now, we have a EuropeanWallSocket that provides electricity in a format incompatible with a US laptop. We will create an adapter to make them compatible.

Step 1: Define the Adaptee Interface

This is the existing interface that represents the European wall socket.

// Adaptee interface
interface EuropeanWallSocket {
    fun provideElectricity(): String // Provides electricity in European format
}

// Implementation of the adaptee
class EuropeanWallSocketImpl : EuropeanWallSocket {
    override fun provideElectricity(): String {
        return "220V AC from European wall socket"
    }
}

Step 2: Define the Target Interface

This is the interface that our US laptop expects.

// Target interface
interface USLaptop {
    fun plugIn(): String // Expects a method to plug in
}

Step 3: Create the Adapter

The adapter will implement the target interface and use an instance of the adaptee.

// Adapter class
class SocketAdapter(private val europeanWallSocket: EuropeanWallSocket) : USLaptop {
    override fun plugIn(): String {
        // Adapt the European socket output for the US laptop
        val electricity = europeanWallSocket.provideElectricity()
        return "Adapting: $electricity to 110V AC for US laptop"
    }
}

Step 4: Client Code

Now, the client can use the USLaptop interface without worrying about the underlying EuropeanWallSocket.

fun main() {
    // Create an instance of the adaptee (European socket)
    val europeanSocket = EuropeanWallSocketImpl()

    // Use the adapter to connect the US laptop
    val socketAdapter = SocketAdapter(europeanSocket)

    // Plug in the US laptop using the adapter
    println(socketAdapter.plugIn())
}

Here,

1. Adaptee: The EuropeanWallSocket interface and its implementation, EuropeanWallSocketImpl, represent a wall socket that provides electricity in the European format (220V AC).
2. Target: The USLaptop interface defines the method the laptop uses to connect to a power source.
3. Adapter: The SocketAdapter class implements the USLaptop interface and contains an instance of EuropeanWallSocket. It adapts the output from the European wall socket to a format that the US laptop can understand (converting it to 110V AC).
4. Client: In the main function, we create an instance of the EuropeanWallSocketImpl, wrap it in the SocketAdapter, and call the plugIn method to simulate plugging in the US laptop.

Output

When you run this code, it will output:

Adapting: 220V AC from European wall socket to 110V AC for US laptop

This example is only for demonstration purposes, illustrating how the Adapter Pattern allows a US laptop to work with a European wall socket by adapting the interface, making the systems compatible without altering their original functionality.

Bridging the Gap: How the Adapter Pattern Facilitates Communication

Have you ever wondered how the Adapter Pattern bridges the gap? The answer lies in the use of object composition and the principle that the pattern binds the client to an interface rather than an implementation.

Delegation serves as the vital link that connects an Adapter to its Adaptee, facilitating seamless communication between the two. Meanwhile, interface inheritance defines the contract that the Adapter class must follow, ensuring clarity and consistency in its interactions.

Look at the previous example above: the client code binds to the USLaptop interface, not to the specific implementation of the adapter or the Adaptee. This design allows for flexibility; if you need to adapt to a different type of socket in the future, you can create a new adapter that implements the same USLaptop interface without changing the client code.

The Target and the Adaptee—often an older, legacy system—are established before the Adapter is introduced. The Adapter acts as a bridge, allowing the Target to utilize the Adaptee’s functionality without modifying its original structure. This approach not only enhances flexibility, but also elegantly encapsulates complexity, enabling developers to create more adaptable systems.

Adapter Pattern Variants

There are two common variants of the Adapter pattern:

• Object Adapter: The adapter holds an instance of the adaptee and delegates requests to it.
• Class Adapter: The adapter inherits from both the target and adaptee classes. However, Kotlin (like Java) does not support multiple inheritance, so this variant is less commonly used in Kotlin.

Object Adapters and Class Adapters use two different methods to adapt the Adaptee: composition and inheritance.

Let’s look at each one individually and discuss their differences.

Object Adapter Pattern

In the Object Adapter Pattern, the adapter contains an instance of the adaptee and implements the interface expected by the client. It “adapts” the methods of the adaptee to fit the expected interface.

Structure of Object Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: The class that implements the target interface and holds a reference to the adaptee, enabling the two incompatible interfaces to work together.

In this UML diagram of the Object Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adapter → Has a reference to → Adaptee
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the Target Interface

Key Points:

• Object Adapter uses composition (by containing the adaptee) instead of inheritance, which makes it more flexible and reusable.
• The adapter doesn’t alter the existing Adaptee class but makes it compatible with the Target Interface.

Simple Example of Object Adapter Pattern

Let’s consider a simple scenario where we want to charge different types of phones, but their charging ports are incompatible.

1. The Client is a phone charger that expects to use a USB type-C charging port.
2. The Adaptee is an old phone that uses a micro-USB charging port.
3. The Adapter bridges the difference by converting the micro-USB interface to a USB type-C interface.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

The charger (client) expects all phones to implement this interface (USB Type-C).

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the old phone, which only has a Micro-USB port. The charger can’t directly use this interface.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Create the Adapter

The adapter will “adapt” the Micro-USB phone to make it compatible with the USB Type-C charger. It wraps the MicroUsbPhone and translates the charging request.

// Adapter that makes Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(private val microUsbPhone: MicroUsbPhone) : UsbTypeCCharger {
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        microUsbPhone.rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Delegating the charging to the Micro-USB phone
    }
}

Step 4: Implement the Client

The client (charger) works with the target interface (UsbTypeCCharger). It can now charge a phone with a Micro-USB port by using the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Old phone with a Micro-USB port (Adaptee)
    val microUsbPhone = MicroUsbPhone()

    // Adapter that makes the Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(microUsbPhone)

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone using the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The charger expects all phones to be charged using a USB Type-C port, so it calls chargeWithUsbTypeC().
• Adapter: The adapter receives the request from the client to charge using USB Type-C. It converts this request and adapts it to the MicroUsbPhone by calling rechargeWithMicroUsb() internally.
• Adaptee (MicroUsbPhone): The phone knows how to charge itself using Micro-USB. The adapter simply makes it compatible with the client’s expectation.

Now, let’s look at another type, the Class Adapter Pattern.

Class Adapter Pattern

The Class Adapter Pattern is another type of adapter design pattern where an adapter class inherits from both the target interface and the Adaptee class. Unlike the Object Adapter Pattern, which uses composition (holding an instance of the Adaptee), the Class Adapter Pattern employs multiple inheritance to directly connect the client and the Adaptee.

In languages like Kotlin, which do not support true multiple inheritance, we simulate this behavior by using interfaces. The adapter implements the target interface and extends the Adaptee class to bridge the gap between incompatible interfaces.

Before going into much detail, let’s first understand the structure of the Class Adapter Pattern.

Structure of Class Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects to interact with.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: A class that inherits from both the target interface and the adaptee, adapting the adaptee to be compatible with the client.

In this UML diagram of the Class Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Inherits from → Adaptee
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the target interface

Key Points:

• The Class Adapter pattern relies on inheritance to connect the Adaptee and the Target Interface.
• The adapter inherits from the adaptee and implements the target interface, thus combining both functionalities.

Simple Example of Class Adapter Pattern 

Now, let’s look at an example of the Class Adapter Pattern. We’ll use the same scenario: a charger that expects a USB Type-C interface but has an old phone that only supports Micro-USB.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

This is the interface that the client (charger) expects.

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the class that needs to be adapted. It’s the old phone with a Micro-USB charging port.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Define the Adapter (Class Adapter)

The Adapter inherits from the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger (target interface). It adapts the MicroUsbPhone to be compatible with the UsbTypeCCharger interface.

// Adapter that inherits from MicroUsbPhone and implements UsbTypeCCharger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter : MicroUsbPhone(), UsbTypeCCharger {
    // Implement the method from UsbTypeCCharger
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        // Call the inherited method from MicroUsbPhone
        rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Uses the Micro-USB method to charge
    }
}

Step 4: Client Usage

The Client only interacts with the UsbTypeCCharger interface and charges the phone through the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Adapter that allows charging a Micro-USB phone with a USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter()

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone through the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The client expects all phones to be charged using the UsbTypeCCharger interface.
• Adapter: The adapter class inherits the behavior of the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger interface. It converts the USB Type-C charging request and delegates it to the inherited rechargeWithMicroUsb() method.
• Adaptee (Micro-USB phone): The MicroUsbPhone class has a method to recharge using Micro-USB, which is directly called by the adapter.

Class Adapter Vs. Object Adapter

The main difference between the Class Adapter and the Object Adapter lies in how they achieve compatibility between the Target and the Adaptee. In the Class Adapter pattern, we use inheritance by subclassing both the Target interface and the Adaptee class, which allows the adapter to directly access the Adaptee’s behavior. This means the adapter is tightly coupled to both the Target and the Adaptee at compile-time.

On the other hand, the Object Adapter pattern relies on composition, meaning the adapter holds a reference to an instance of the Adaptee rather than inheriting from it. This approach allows the adapter to forward requests to the Adaptee, making it more flexible because the Adaptee instance can be changed or swapped without modifying the adapter. The Object Adapter pattern is generally preferred when more flexibility is needed, as it loosely couples the adapter and Adaptee.

In short, the key difference is that the Class Adapter subclasses both the Target and the Adaptee, while the Object Adapter uses composition to forward requests to the Adaptee.

Real-World Examples

We’ll look at more real-world examples soon, but before that, let’s first explore a structural example of the Adapter Pattern to ensure a smooth understanding.

Adapter Pattern: Structural Example

Since we’ve already seen many code examples, there’s no rocket science here. Let’s jump straight into the code and then go over its explanation.

// Target interface that the client expects
interface Target {
    fun request()
}

// Adaptee class that has an incompatible method
class Adaptee {
    fun delegatedRequest() {
        println("This is the delegated method.")
    }
}

// Adapter class that implements Target and adapts Adaptee
class Adapter : Target {
    private val delegate = Adaptee() // Composition: holding an instance of Adaptee

    // Adapting the request method to call Adaptee's delegatedRequest
    override fun request() {
        delegate.delegatedRequest()
    }
}

// Test class to demonstrate the Adapter Pattern
fun main() {
    val client: Target = Adapter() // Client interacts with the Adapter through the Target interface
    client.request() // Calls the adapted method
}

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// OUTPUT

// This is the delegated method.

In the code above,

• Target interface: The interface that the client expects to interact with.
• Adaptee class: Contains the method delegatedRequest(), which needs to be adapted to the Target interface.
• Adapter class: Implements the Target interface and uses composition to hold an instance of Adaptee. It adapts the request() method to call delegatedRequest().
• Client: Uses the adapter by interacting through the Target interface.

Here, the Adapter adapts the incompatible interface (Adaptee) to the interface the client expects (Target), allowing the client to use the Adaptee without modification.

Adapting an Enumeration to an Iterator

In the landscape of programming, particularly when dealing with collections in Kotlin and Java, we often navigate between legacy enumerators and modern iterators. In Java, the legacy Enumeration interface features straightforward methods like hasMoreElements() to check for remaining elements and nextElement() to retrieve the next item, representing a simpler time. In contrast, the modern Iterator interface—found in both Java and Kotlin—introduces a more robust approach, featuring hasNext(), next(), and even remove() (In Kotlin, the remove() method is part of the MutableIterator<out T> interface) for effective collection management.

Despite these advancements, many applications still rely on legacy code that exposes the Enumeration interface. This presents developers with a dilemma: how to seamlessly integrate this outdated system with newer code that prefers iterators. This is where the need for an adapter emerges, bridging the gap and allowing us to leverage the strengths of both worlds. By creating an adapter that implements the Iterator interface while wrapping an Enumeration instance, we can provide a smooth transition to modern coding practices without discarding the functionality of legacy systems.

Let’s examine the two interfaces

Adapting an Enumeration to an Iterator begins with examining the two interfaces. The Iterator interface includes three essential methods: hasNext(), next(), and remove(), while the older Enumeration interface features hasMoreElements() and nextElement(). The first two methods from Enumeration map easily to Iterator‘s counterparts, making the initial adaptation straightforward. However, the real challenge arises with the remove() method in Iterator, which has no equivalent in Enumeration. This disparity highlights the complexities involved in bridging legacy code with modern practices, emphasizing the need for an effective adaptation strategy to ensure seamless integration of the two interfaces.

Designing the Adapter

To effectively bridge the gap between the old-world Enumeration and the new-world Iterator, we will utilize methods from both interfaces. The Iterator interface includes hasNext(), next(), and remove(), while the Enumeration interface offers hasMoreElements() and nextElement(). Our goal is to create an adapter class, EnumerationIterator, which implements the Iterator interface while internally working with an existing Enumeration. This design allows our new code to leverage Iterators, even though an Enumeration operates beneath the surface. In essence, EnumerationIterator serves as the adapter, transforming the legacy Enumeration into a modern Iterator for your codebase, ensuring seamless integration and enhancing compatibility.

Dealing with the remove() Method

The Enumeration interface is a “read-only” interface that does not support the remove() method. This limitation implies that there is no straightforward way to implement a fully functional remove() method in the adapter. The best approach is to throw a runtime exception, as the Iterator designers anticipated this need and implemented an UnsupportedOperationException for such cases.

EnumerationIterator Adapter Code

Now, let’s look at how we can convert all of this into code.

import java.util.Enumeration
import java.util.Iterator

// EnumerationIterator class implementing Iterator
// Since we are adapting Enumeration to Iterator, 
// the EnumerationIterator must implement the Iterator interface 
// -- it has to look like the Iterator.
class EnumerationIterator<T>(private val enumeration: Enumeration<T>) : Iterator<T> {
    
    // We are adapting the Enumeration, using composition to store it in an instance variable.
    
    // hasNext() and next() are implemented by delegating to the corresponding methods in the Enumeration. 
    
    // Checks if there are more elements in the enumeration
    override fun hasNext(): Boolean {
        return enumeration.hasMoreElements()
    }

    // Retrieves the next element from the enumeration
    override fun next(): T {
        return enumeration.nextElement()
    }

    // For remove(), we simply throw an exception.
    override fun remove() {
        throw UnsupportedOperationException("Remove operation is not supported.")
    }
}

Here,

• Generic Type: The EnumerationIterator class is made generic with <T> to handle different types of enumerations.
• Constructor: The constructor takes an Enumeration<T> object as a parameter.
• hasNext() Method: This method checks if there are more elements in the enumeration.
• next() Method: This method retrieves the next element from the enumeration.
• remove() Method: This method throws an UnsupportedOperationException, indicating that the remove operation is not supported.

Here’s how we can use it,

fun main() {
    val list = listOf("Apple", "Banana", "Cherry")
    val enumeration: Enumeration<String> = list.elements()

    val iterator = EnumerationIterator(enumeration)
    
    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
        println(iterator.next())
    }
}

Here, you can see how the EnumerationIterator can be utilized to iterate over the elements of an Enumeration. Please note that the elements() method is specific to classes like Vector or Stack, so ensure you have a valid Enumeration instance to test this example.

While the adapter may not be perfect, it provides a reasonable solution as long as the client is careful and the adapter is well-documented. This clarity ensures that developers understand the limitations and can work with the adapter effectively.

Adapting an Integer Set to an Integer Priority Queue

Transforming an Integer Set into a Priority Queue might sound tricky since a Set inherently doesn’t maintain order, while a Priority Queue relies on element priority. However, by using the Adapter pattern, we can bridge this gap. The Adapter serves as an intermediary, allowing the Set to be used as if it were a Priority Queue. It adds the necessary functionality by reordering elements based on their priority when accessed. This way, you maintain the uniqueness of elements from the Set, while enabling the prioritized behavior of a Priority Queue, all without modifying the original structures. This approach enhances code flexibility and usability.

I know some of you might still be a little confused. Before we dive into the adapter code, let’s quickly revisit the basics of priority queues and integer sets. After that, we’ll walk through how we design the adapter, followed by the code and explanations.

What is a Priority Queue?

A Priority Queue is a type of queue in which elements are dequeued based on their priority, rather than their insertion order. In a typical queue (like a regular line), the first element added is the first one removed, which is known as FIFO (First In, First Out). However, in a priority queue, elements are removed based on their priority—typically the smallest (or sometimes largest) value is removed first.

• Example of Priority Queue Behavior: Imagine a hospital emergency room. Patients aren’t necessarily treated in the order they arrive; instead, the most critical cases (highest priority) are treated first. Similarly, in a priority queue, elements with the highest (or lowest) priority are processed first.In a min-priority queue, the smallest element is dequeued first. In a max-priority queue, the largest element is dequeued first.

What is an Integer Set?

A Set is a collection of unique elements. In programming, an Integer Set is simply a set of integers. The key characteristic of a set is that it does not allow duplicate elements and typically has no specific order.

• Example of Integer Set Behavior: If you add the integers 3, 7, 5, 3 to a set, the set will only contain 3, 7, 5, as the duplicate 3 will not be added again.

How Does the Integer Set Adapt to Priority Queue Behavior?

A Set by itself does not have any priority-based behavior. However, with the help of the Adapter pattern, we can make the set behave like a priority queue. The Adapter pattern is useful when you have two incompatible interfaces and want to use one in place of the other.

Here, the Set itself doesn’t manage priorities, but we build an adapter around the set that makes it behave like a Priority Queue. Specifically, we implement methods that will:

1. Add elements to the set (add() method).
2. Remove the smallest element (which gives it the behavior of a min-priority queue).
3. Check the size of the set, mimicking the size() behavior of a queue.

PriorityQueueAdapter : Code 

Now, let’s see the code and its explanations

// Define a PriorityQueue interface
interface PriorityQueue {
    fun add(element: Any)
    fun size(): Int
    fun removeSmallest(): Any?
}

// Implement the PriorityQueueAdapter that adapts a Set to work like a PriorityQueue
class PriorityQueueAdapter(private val set: MutableSet<Int>) : PriorityQueue {

    // Add an element to the Set
    override fun add(element: Any) {
        if (element is Int) {
            set.add(element)
        }
    }

    // Get the size of the Set
    override fun size(): Int {
        return set.size
    }

    // Find and remove the smallest element from the Set
    override fun removeSmallest(): Int? {
        // If the set is empty, return null
        if (set.isEmpty()) return null

        // Find the smallest element using Kotlin's built-in functions
        val smallest = set.minOrNull()

        // Remove the smallest element from the set
        if (smallest != null) {
            set.remove(smallest)
        }

        // Return the smallest element
        return smallest
    }
}

PriorityQueue Interface:

• We define an interface PriorityQueue with three methods:
• add(element: Any): Adds an element to the queue.
• size(): Returns the number of elements in the queue.
• removeSmallest(): Removes and returns the smallest element from the queue.

PriorityQueueAdapter Class:

• This is the adapter that makes a MutableSet<Int> work as a PriorityQueue. It adapts the Set behavior to match the PriorityQueue interface.
• It holds a reference to a MutableSet of integers, which will store the elements.

add() method:

• Adds an integer to the Set. Since Set ensures that all elements are unique, duplicate values will not be added.

size() method:

• Returns the current size of the Set, which is the number of elements stored.

removeSmallest() method:

• This method first checks if the set is empty; if so, it returns null.
• If not, it uses the built-in Kotlin method minOrNull() to find the smallest element in the set.
• Once the smallest element is found, it is removed from the set using remove(), and the smallest element is returned.

PriorityQueueAdapter: How It Works

Let’s walk through how the PriorityQueueAdapter works by using a simple example, followed by detailed explanations.

fun main() {
    // Create a mutable set of integers
    val integerSet = mutableSetOf(15, 3, 7, 20)

    // Create an instance of PriorityQueueAdapter using the set
    val priorityQueue: PriorityQueue = PriorityQueueAdapter(integerSet)

    // Add elements to the PriorityQueue
    priorityQueue.add(10)
    priorityQueue.add(5)

    // Print the size of the PriorityQueue
    println("Size of the PriorityQueue: ${priorityQueue.size()}") // Expected: 6 (15, 3, 7, 20, 10, 5)

    // Remove the smallest element
    val smallest = priorityQueue.removeSmallest()
    println("Smallest element removed: $smallest") // Expected: 3 (which is the smallest in the set)

    // Check the size of the PriorityQueue after removing the smallest element
    println("Size after removing smallest: ${priorityQueue.size()}") // Expected: 5 (remaining: 15, 7, 20, 10, 5)

    // Remove the next smallest element
    val nextSmallest = priorityQueue.removeSmallest()
    println("Next smallest element removed: $nextSmallest") // Expected: 5

    // Final state of the PriorityQueue
    println("Remaining elements in the PriorityQueue: $integerSet") // Expected: [15, 7, 20, 10]
}

Initialization:

The PriorityQueueAdapter demonstrates how we can transform a Set (which does not naturally support priority-based operations) into something that behaves like a PriorityQueue, using the Adapter design pattern. By implementing additional functionality (finding and removing the smallest element), this adapter provides a simple and effective solution to integrate a set into contexts that require a priority queue behavior.

Adapter Design Pattern in Android

The primary goal of the Adapter pattern is to enable communication between two incompatible interfaces. This becomes particularly valuable in Android development, where you frequently need to bridge data sources — such as arrays, lists, or databases — with UI components like RecyclerView, ListView, or Spinner.

So, the Adapter pattern is widely utilized in Android development. Let’s explore its applications one by one.

RecyclerView Adapter

The RecyclerView is a flexible view for providing a limited window into a large data set. The RecyclerView.Adapter serves as the bridge that connects the data to the RecyclerView, allowing for efficient view recycling and performance optimization.

class MyAdapter(private val itemList: List<String>) : RecyclerView.Adapter<MyAdapter.ViewHolder>() {

    class ViewHolder(view: View) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(view) {
        val textView: TextView = view.findViewById(R.id.text_view)
    }

    override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): ViewHolder {
        val view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.context).inflate(R.layout.item_layout, parent, false)
        return ViewHolder(view)
    }

    override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: ViewHolder, position: Int) {
        holder.textView.text = itemList[position]
    }

    override fun getItemCount(): Int = itemList.size
}

ListView Adapter

Before RecyclerView, ListView was the primary component for displaying lists of data. The ArrayAdapter and SimpleAdapter are classic examples of adapters used with ListView. They help convert data into views.

class MyActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    private lateinit var listView: ListView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        listView = findViewById(R.id.list_view)
        val items = listOf("Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3")
        val adapter = ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, items)
        listView.adapter = adapter
    }
}

Spinner Adapter

A Spinner is a dropdown list that allows the user to select an item from a list. The Adapter pattern is also applied here, typically through ArrayAdapter or a custom adapter to provide data to the Spinner.

class MySpinnerAdapter(private val context: Context, private val items: List<String>) : BaseAdapter() {

    override fun getCount(): Int = items.size

    override fun getItem(position: Int): String = items[position]

    override fun getItemId(position: Int): Long = position.toLong()

    override fun getView(position: Int, convertView: View?, parent: ViewGroup?): View {
        val textView = TextView(context)
        textView.text = getItem(position)
        return textView
    }
}

// In your activity
val spinner: Spinner = findViewById(R.id.spinner)
val items = listOf("Option 1", "Option 2", "Option 3")
val adapter = MySpinnerAdapter(this, items)
spinner.adapter = adapter

ViewPager Adapter

In ViewPager, the adapter is used to manage the pages of content. The PagerAdapter (or its subclass FragmentPagerAdapter) allows developers to create and manage the fragments that are displayed in the ViewPager.

class MyPagerAdapter(fm: FragmentManager) : FragmentPagerAdapter(fm) {
    private val fragments = listOf(Fragment1(), Fragment2(), Fragment3())

    override fun getItem(position: Int): Fragment = fragments[position]

    override fun getCount(): Int = fragments.size
}

// In your activity
val viewPager: ViewPager = findViewById(R.id.view_pager)
val adapter = MyPagerAdapter(supportFragmentManager)
viewPager.adapter = adapter

Custom Adapter for Data Binding

As developers, we often create custom adapters to directly bind data to views. This approach is especially beneficial when working with frameworks like Android Data Binding or when connecting complex data models to UI components.

// Custom Binding Adapter
@BindingAdapter("app:loadImage")
fun loadImage(view: ImageView, url: String?) {
    // Load image using a library like Glide or Picasso
    Glide.with(view.context).load(url).into(view)
}

The Adapter pattern is prevalent in various components of Android development, from UI elements like ListView, Spinner, and ViewPager to more complex data binding scenarios. It is essential for facilitating seamless communication between data sources and UI components. By implementing various adapters, we enhance code organization, reusability, and flexibility, allowing developers to create responsive and dynamic applications more efficiently.

Conclusion

The Adapter Design Pattern is a powerful tool that every developer should have in their toolkit. By bridging the gap between incompatible systems, it allows for smoother integration and greater code flexibility. Whether you’re using the Class Adapter or Object Adapter, understanding these types can significantly enhance the adaptability of your projects.

From real-world examples to its use in Android development, the Adapter Design Pattern shows its versatility in solving common coding challenges. As we’ve explored, it’s not just about making systems work together—it’s about doing so in a way that’s clean, maintainable, and future-proof.

So next time you face a compatibility issue, remember that the Adapter Pattern is here to save the day. Keep this pattern in mind, and you’ll find yourself writing more robust, adaptable, and efficient code. Now that you’ve finished your coffee, it’s time to apply what you’ve learned—happy coding!

In Java and Kotlin development, efficiently managing collections often requires adapting one data structure to another. A common scenario is converting an Integer Set into an Integer Priority Queue. The PriorityQueueAdapter simplifies this process, enabling developers to leverage the unique features of both data structures—fast access and automatic ordering.

In this blog, we will delve into the PriorityQueueAdapter, exploring its purpose, structure, and implementation. We’ll demonstrate how to seamlessly adapt an Integer Set to an Integer Priority Queue with practical examples and insights. By the end of this article, you’ll understand how this adapter enhances your code’s flexibility and performance in Java and Kotlin applications.

Adapting an Integer Set to an Integer Priority Queue

Adapting an Integer Set to work like a Priority Queue might seem like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but the Adapter pattern makes this transformation both possible and practical. In the original form, an Integer Set doesn’t support the behavior of a Priority Queue because it’s unordered, whereas a Priority Queue is all about organizing elements based on priority. By implementing an Adapter, you can create a layer that acts as a bridge between these two incompatible structures. The Adapter can introduce methods that reorder the Set elements, ensuring they are retrieved based on priority, just like a Priority Queue. This way, you can enjoy the benefits of the Set’s unique element constraint while also incorporating the functionality of a priority-based retrieval system. The key here is that the Adapter provides a seamless interface, allowing the underlying Set to work in a completely different context, opening doors for more flexible and maintainable code.

I know some of you might still be a little confused. Before we dive into the adapter code, let’s quickly revisit the basics of priority queues and integer sets. After that, we’ll walk through how we design the adapter, followed by the code and explanations.

What is a Priority Queue?

A Priority Queue is a type of queue in which elements are dequeued based on their priority, rather than their insertion order. In a typical queue (like a regular line), the first element added is the first one removed, which is known as FIFO (First In, First Out). However, in a priority queue, elements are removed based on their priority—typically the smallest (or sometimes largest) value is removed first.

• Example of Priority Queue Behavior: Imagine a hospital emergency room. Patients aren’t necessarily treated in the order they arrive; instead, the most critical cases (highest priority) are treated first. Similarly, in a priority queue, elements with the highest (or lowest) priority are processed first.In a min-priority queue, the smallest element is dequeued first. In a max-priority queue, the largest element is dequeued first.

What is an Integer Set?

A Set is a collection of unique elements. In programming, an Integer Set is simply a set of integers. The key characteristic of a set is that it does not allow duplicate elements and typically has no specific order.

• Example of Integer Set Behavior: If you add the integers 3, 7, 5, 3 to a set, the set will only contain 3, 7, 5, as the duplicate 3 will not be added again.

How Does the Integer Set Adapt to Priority Queue Behavior?

A Set by itself does not have any priority-based behavior. However, with the help of the Adapter pattern, we can make the set behave like a priority queue. The Adapter pattern is useful when you have two incompatible interfaces and want to use one in place of the other.

Here, the Set itself doesn’t manage priorities, but we build an adapter around the set that makes it behave like a Priority Queue. Specifically, we implement methods that will:

1. Add elements to the set (add() method).
2. Remove the smallest element (which gives it the behavior of a min-priority queue).
3. Check the size of the set, mimicking the size() behavior of a queue.

PriorityQueueAdapter : Code 

Now, let’s see the code and its explanations

// Define a PriorityQueue interface
interface PriorityQueue {
    fun add(element: Any)
    fun size(): Int
    fun removeSmallest(): Any?
}

// Implement the PriorityQueueAdapter that adapts a Set to work like a PriorityQueue
class PriorityQueueAdapter(private val set: MutableSet<Int>) : PriorityQueue {

    // Add an element to the Set
    override fun add(element: Any) {
        if (element is Int) {
            set.add(element)
        }
    }

    // Get the size of the Set
    override fun size(): Int {
        return set.size
    }

    // Find and remove the smallest element from the Set
    override fun removeSmallest(): Int? {
        // If the set is empty, return null
        if (set.isEmpty()) return null

        // Find the smallest element using Kotlin's built-in functions
        val smallest = set.minOrNull()

        // Remove the smallest element from the set
        if (smallest != null) {
            set.remove(smallest)
        }

        // Return the smallest element
        return smallest
    }
}

PriorityQueue Interface:

• We define an interface PriorityQueue with three methods:
• add(element: Any): Adds an element to the queue.
• size(): Returns the number of elements in the queue.
• removeSmallest(): Removes and returns the smallest element from the queue.

PriorityQueueAdapter Class:

• This is the adapter that makes a MutableSet<Int> work as a PriorityQueue. It adapts the Set behavior to match the PriorityQueue interface.
• It holds a reference to a MutableSet of integers, which will store the elements.

add() method:

• Adds an integer to the Set. Since Set ensures that all elements are unique, duplicate values will not be added.

size() method:

• Returns the current size of the Set, which is the number of elements stored.

removeSmallest() method:

• This method first checks if the set is empty; if so, it returns null.
• If not, it uses the built-in Kotlin method minOrNull() to find the smallest element in the set.
• Once the smallest element is found, it is removed from the set using remove(), and the smallest element is returned.

Key Points

• Adapter Pattern: The class PriorityQueueAdapter acts as an adapter, allowing the Set to behave like a PriorityQueue. The set keeps unique elements, but the adapter adds additional functionality to behave like a priority queue by tracking and removing the smallest element.
• Flexibility: This approach enables you to use a Set in scenarios that require a PriorityQueue without altering the original Set structure. The adapter adds the priority-based behavior without modifying the Set itself.

PriorityQueueAdapter: How It Works

Let’s walk through how the PriorityQueueAdapter works by using a simple example, followed by detailed explanations.

fun main() {
    // Create a mutable set of integers
    val integerSet = mutableSetOf(15, 3, 7, 20)

    // Create an instance of PriorityQueueAdapter using the set
    val priorityQueue: PriorityQueue = PriorityQueueAdapter(integerSet)

    // Add elements to the PriorityQueue
    priorityQueue.add(10)
    priorityQueue.add(5)

    // Print the size of the PriorityQueue
    println("Size of the PriorityQueue: ${priorityQueue.size()}") // Expected: 6 (15, 3, 7, 20, 10, 5)

    // Remove the smallest element
    val smallest = priorityQueue.removeSmallest()
    println("Smallest element removed: $smallest") // Expected: 3 (which is the smallest in the set)

    // Check the size of the PriorityQueue after removing the smallest element
    println("Size after removing smallest: ${priorityQueue.size()}") // Expected: 5 (remaining: 15, 7, 20, 10, 5)

    // Remove the next smallest element
    val nextSmallest = priorityQueue.removeSmallest()
    println("Next smallest element removed: $nextSmallest") // Expected: 5

    // Final state of the PriorityQueue
    println("Remaining elements in the PriorityQueue: $integerSet") // Expected: [15, 7, 20, 10]
}

Initialization:

• We create a MutableSet of integers with values: 15, 3, 7, and 20.
• The PriorityQueueAdapter is initialized with this set.

Adding Elements:

• We add two new integers, 10 and 5, using the add() method of the PriorityQueueAdapter.
• After adding these, the set contains the following elements: [15, 3, 7, 20, 10, 5].

Size of the PriorityQueue:

• We check the size of the queue using the size() method. Since we have six unique elements in the set, the size returned is 6.

Removing the Smallest Element:

• The removeSmallest() method is called.
• The method scans the set and finds 3 to be the smallest element.
• It removes 3 from the set and returns it.
• After removal, the set becomes: [15, 7, 20, 10, 5].

Size After Removal:

• The size is checked again, and it returns 5, since one element (3) was removed.

Removing the Next Smallest Element:

• The removeSmallest() method is called again.
• This time, it finds 5 as the smallest element in the set.
• It removes 5 and returns it.
• After removal, the set is now: [15, 7, 20, 10].

Final State of the Queue:

• The final remaining elements in the set are printed, showing the updated state of the set: [15, 7, 20, 10].

So, the add() method in the PriorityQueueAdapter is responsible for adding elements to the internal set. Since sets do not allow duplicate elements, only unique items are added; if an attempt is made to add an element that already exists in the set, it will not be added again. The removeSmallest() method scans the set to identify the smallest element, removes it, and returns its value. This method utilizes the built-in minOrNull() function to efficiently find the smallest element during each iteration, ensuring that the set is modified appropriately. The adapter employs a MutableSet as the underlying data structure, allowing it to function like a priority queue by focusing on adding elements and removing the smallest ones. Additionally, the design of the PriorityQueueAdapter ensures that the set is effectively utilized as a priority queue without altering its inherent behavior.

Conclusion

The PriorityQueueAdapter offers a straightforward and effective way to convert an Integer Set into an Integer Priority Queue, enhancing your data management capabilities in Java and Kotlin. By utilizing this adapter, you can take advantage of the automatic ordering and efficient retrieval features of a priority queue, all while maintaining the unique characteristics of a set.

Whether you’re optimizing algorithms or simply looking for a better way to handle integer data, the PriorityQueueAdapter serves as a valuable tool in your development toolkit. Implementing this adapter will streamline your collection handling, allowing your applications to operate more efficiently and effectively. Embrace the power of the PriorityQueueAdapter in your projects and elevate your coding practices!

In Kotlin and Java development, working with legacy code often requires bridging the gap between outdated interfaces like Enumeration and modern ones like Iterator. To address this challenge, the EnumerationIterator Adapter is a useful tool that allows developers to seamlessly convert an Enumeration into an Iterator.

In this blog, we’ll dive into what the EnumerationIterator Adapter is, how it works, and why it’s essential for maintaining or updating legacy Java applications—as well as its use in Kotlin. Through simple examples and practical insights, you’ll discover how this adapter enhances code flexibility and makes working with older systems more efficient.

Adapting an Enumeration to an Iterator

In the landscape of programming, particularly when dealing with collections in Kotlin and Java, we often navigate between legacy enumerators and modern iterators. In Java, the legacy Enumeration interface features straightforward methods like hasMoreElements() to check for remaining elements and nextElement() to retrieve the next item, representing a simpler time. In contrast, the modern Iterator interface—found in both Java and Kotlin—introduces a more robust approach, featuring hasNext(), next(), and even remove() (In Kotlin, the remove() method is part of the MutableIterator<out T> interface) for effective collection management.

Despite these advancements, many applications still rely on legacy code that exposes the Enumeration interface. This presents developers with a dilemma: how to seamlessly integrate this outdated system with newer code that prefers iterators. This is where the need for an adapter emerges, bridging the gap and allowing us to leverage the strengths of both worlds. By creating an adapter that implements the Iterator interface while wrapping an Enumeration instance, we can provide a smooth transition to modern coding practices without discarding the functionality of legacy systems.

Let’s examine the two interfaces

Adapting an Enumeration to an Iterator begins with examining the two interfaces. The Iterator interface includes three essential methods: hasNext(), next(), and remove(), while the older Enumeration interface features hasMoreElements() and nextElement(). The first two methods from Enumeration map easily to Iterator‘s counterparts, making the initial adaptation straightforward. However, the real challenge arises with the remove() method in Iterator, which has no equivalent in Enumeration. This disparity highlights the complexities involved in bridging legacy code with modern practices, emphasizing the need for an effective adaptation strategy to ensure seamless integration of the two interfaces.

Designing the Adapter

To effectively bridge the gap between the old-world Enumeration and the new-world Iterator, we will utilize methods from both interfaces. The Iterator interface includes hasNext(), next(), and remove(), while the Enumeration interface offers hasMoreElements() and nextElement(). Our goal is to create an adapter class, EnumerationIterator, which implements the Iterator interface while internally working with an existing Enumeration. This design allows our new code to leverage Iterators, even though an Enumeration operates beneath the surface. In essence, EnumerationIterator serves as the adapter, transforming the legacy Enumeration into a modern Iterator for your codebase, ensuring seamless integration and enhancing compatibility.

Dealing with the remove() Method

The Enumeration interface is a “read-only” interface that does not support the remove() method. This limitation implies that there is no straightforward way to implement a fully functional remove() method in the adapter. The best approach is to throw a runtime exception, as the Iterator designers anticipated this need and implemented an UnsupportedOperationException for such cases.

EnumerationIterator Adapter Code

Now, let’s look at how we can convert all of this into code.

import java.util.Enumeration
import java.util.Iterator

// EnumerationIterator class implementing Iterator
// Since we are adapting Enumeration to Iterator, 
// the EnumerationIterator must implement the Iterator interface 
// -- it has to look like the Iterator.
class EnumerationIterator<T>(private val enumeration: Enumeration<T>) : Iterator<T> {
    
    // We are adapting the Enumeration, using composition to store it in an instance variable.
    
    // hasNext() and next() are implemented by delegating to the corresponding methods in the Enumeration. 
    
    // Checks if there are more elements in the enumeration
    override fun hasNext(): Boolean {
        return enumeration.hasMoreElements()
    }

    // Retrieves the next element from the enumeration
    override fun next(): T {
        return enumeration.nextElement()
    }

    // For remove(), we simply throw an exception.
    override fun remove() {
        throw UnsupportedOperationException("Remove operation is not supported.")
    }
}

Here,

• Generic Type: The EnumerationIterator class is made generic with <T> to handle different types of enumerations.
• Constructor: The constructor takes an Enumeration<T> object as a parameter.
• hasNext() Method: This method checks if there are more elements in the enumeration.
• next() Method: This method retrieves the next element from the enumeration.
• remove() Method: This method throws an UnsupportedOperationException, indicating that the remove operation is not supported.

Here’s how we can use it,

fun main() {
    val list = listOf("Apple", "Banana", "Cherry")
    val enumeration: Enumeration<String> = list.elements()

    val iterator = EnumerationIterator(enumeration)
    
    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
        println(iterator.next())
    }
}

Here, you can see how the EnumerationIterator can be utilized to iterate over the elements of an Enumeration. Please note that the elements() method is specific to classes like Vector or Stack, so ensure you have a valid Enumeration instance to test this example.

While the adapter may not be perfect, it provides a reasonable solution as long as the client is careful and the adapter is well-documented. This clarity ensures that developers understand the limitations and can work with the adapter effectively.

Conclusion

The EnumerationIterator Adapter offers a smooth and efficient way to modernize legacy Java code and Kotlin applications without sacrificing functionality. By converting an Enumeration to an Iterator, you can enhance compatibility with newer Java collections and APIs, as well as leverage Kotlin’s powerful collection functions, all while keeping your code clean and maintainable.

Whether you’re refactoring legacy systems in Java or Kotlin, or ensuring compatibility with modern practices, the EnumerationIterator Adapter provides a simple yet powerful solution. By incorporating this adapter into your projects, you’ll streamline your development process and make your code more adaptable for the future.

The Adapter Design Pattern is a fundamental concept in software engineering that allows incompatible interfaces to work together seamlessly. In a world where systems and components often need to communicate despite their differences, understanding the various types of Adapter Design Patterns becomes essential for developers. By acting as a bridge between disparate systems, these patterns enhance code reusability and maintainability.

In this blog, we will explore the different types of Adapter Design Patterns, including the Class Adapter and Object Adapter, and their respective roles in software development. We’ll break down their structures, provide practical examples, and discuss their advantages and potential drawbacks. By the end, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how to effectively implement these patterns in your projects, making your codebase more adaptable and robust. Let’s dive into the world of Adapter Design Patterns!

Object Adapter Pattern Definition

The Object Adapter Pattern is a structural design pattern that allows objects with incompatible interfaces to collaborate by using composition rather than inheritance. Instead of modifying the existing class (adaptee), the adapter creates a bridge between the client and the adaptee by holding a reference to the adaptee. This approach enables flexible and reusable solutions without altering existing code.

In the Object Adapter Pattern, the adapter contains an instance of the adaptee and implements the interface expected by the client. It “adapts” the methods of the adaptee to fit the expected interface.

Structure of Object Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: The class that implements the target interface and holds a reference to the adaptee, enabling the two incompatible interfaces to work together.

In this UML diagram of the Object Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adapter → Has a reference to → Adaptee
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the Target Interface

Key Points:

• Object Adapter uses composition (by containing the adaptee) instead of inheritance, which makes it more flexible and reusable.
• The adapter doesn’t alter the existing Adaptee class but makes it compatible with the Target Interface.

Simple Example of Object Adapter Pattern

Let’s consider a simple scenario where we want to charge different types of phones, but their charging ports are incompatible.

1. The Client is a phone charger that expects to use a USB type-C charging port.
2. The Adaptee is an old phone that uses a micro-USB charging port.
3. The Adapter bridges the difference by converting the micro-USB interface to a USB type-C interface.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

The charger (client) expects all phones to implement this interface (USB Type-C).

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the old phone, which only has a Micro-USB port. The charger can’t directly use this interface.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Create the Adapter

The adapter will “adapt” the Micro-USB phone to make it compatible with the USB Type-C charger. It wraps the MicroUsbPhone and translates the charging request.

// Adapter that makes Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(private val microUsbPhone: MicroUsbPhone) : UsbTypeCCharger {
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        microUsbPhone.rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Delegating the charging to the Micro-USB phone
    }
}

Step 4: Implement the Client

The client (charger) works with the target interface (UsbTypeCCharger). It can now charge a phone with a Micro-USB port by using the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Old phone with a Micro-USB port (Adaptee)
    val microUsbPhone = MicroUsbPhone()

    // Adapter that makes the Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(microUsbPhone)

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone using the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The charger expects all phones to be charged using a USB Type-C port, so it calls chargeWithUsbTypeC().
• Adapter: The adapter receives the request from the client to charge using USB Type-C. It converts this request and adapts it to the MicroUsbPhone by calling rechargeWithMicroUsb() internally.
• Adaptee (MicroUsbPhone): The phone knows how to charge itself using Micro-USB. The adapter simply makes it compatible with the client’s expectation.

What’s Happening in Each Step

1. Client: The charger (client) is asking to charge a phone via USB Type-C.
2. Adapter: The adapter intercepts this request and converts it to something the old phone understands, which is charging via Micro-USB.
3. Adaptee (Micro-USB phone): The old phone proceeds with charging using its Micro-USB port.

Basically, the Object Adapter Pattern is a powerful and flexible way to make incompatible interfaces work together. By using composition in Kotlin, you can create an adapter that wraps an existing class (the Adaptee) and makes it compatible with the client’s expected interface without changing the original code. This approach ensures better maintainability, flexibility, and reusability of your code.

Class Adapter Pattern

The Class Adapter Pattern is another type of adapter design pattern where an adapter class inherits from both the target interface and the Adaptee class. Unlike the Object Adapter Pattern, which uses composition (holding an instance of the Adaptee), the Class Adapter Pattern employs multiple inheritance to directly connect the client and the Adaptee.

In languages like Kotlin, which do not support true multiple inheritance, we simulate this behavior by using interfaces. The adapter implements the target interface and extends the Adaptee class to bridge the gap between incompatible interfaces.

Before going into much detail, let’s first understand the structure of the Class Adapter Pattern.

Structure of Class Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects to interact with.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: A class that inherits from both the target interface and the adaptee, adapting the adaptee to be compatible with the client.

In this UML diagram of the Class Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Inherits from → Adaptee
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the target interface

Key Points:

• The Class Adapter pattern relies on inheritance to connect the Adaptee and the Target Interface.
• The adapter inherits from the adaptee and implements the target interface, thus combining both functionalities.

Simple Example of Class Adapter Pattern 

Now, let’s look at an example of the Class Adapter Pattern. We’ll use the same scenario: a charger that expects a USB Type-C interface but has an old phone that only supports Micro-USB.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

This is the interface that the client (charger) expects.

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the class that needs to be adapted. It’s the old phone with a Micro-USB charging port.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Define the Adapter (Class Adapter)

The Adapter inherits from the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger (target interface). It adapts the MicroUsbPhone to be compatible with the UsbTypeCCharger interface.

// Adapter that inherits from MicroUsbPhone and implements UsbTypeCCharger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter : MicroUsbPhone(), UsbTypeCCharger {
    // Implement the method from UsbTypeCCharger
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        // Call the inherited method from MicroUsbPhone
        rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Uses the Micro-USB method to charge
    }
}

Step 4: Client Usage

The Client only interacts with the UsbTypeCCharger interface and charges the phone through the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Adapter that allows charging a Micro-USB phone with a USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter()

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone through the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The client expects all phones to be charged using the UsbTypeCCharger interface.
• Adapter: The adapter class inherits the behavior of the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger interface. It converts the USB Type-C charging request and delegates it to the inherited rechargeWithMicroUsb() method.
• Adaptee (Micro-USB phone): The MicroUsbPhone class has a method to recharge using Micro-USB, which is directly called by the adapter.

What’s Happening in Each Step

1. Client: The client attempts to charge a phone using the chargeWithUsbTypeC() method.
2. Adapter: The adapter intercepts this request and converts it to the rechargeWithMicroUsb() method, which it inherits from the MicroUsbPhone class.
3. Adaptee: The phone charges using the rechargeWithMicroUsb() method, fulfilling the request.

Actually, the Class Adapter Pattern allows you to make incompatible interfaces work together by using inheritance. In Kotlin, this involves implementing the target interface and extending the Adaptee class. While this approach is simple and performant, it’s less flexible than the Object Adapter Pattern because it binds the adapter directly to the Adaptee.

This pattern works well when you need a tight coupling between the adapter and the Adaptee, but for more flexibility, the Object Adapter Pattern is often the better choice.

Class Adapter Vs. Object Adapter 

The main difference between the Class Adapter and the Object Adapter lies in how they achieve compatibility between the Target and the Adaptee. In the Class Adapter pattern, we use inheritance by subclassing both the Target interface and the Adaptee class, which allows the adapter to directly access the Adaptee’s behavior. This means the adapter is tightly coupled to both the Target and the Adaptee at compile-time.

On the other hand, the Object Adapter pattern relies on composition, meaning the adapter holds a reference to an instance of the Adaptee rather than inheriting from it. This approach allows the adapter to forward requests to the Adaptee, making it more flexible because the Adaptee instance can be changed or swapped without modifying the adapter. The Object Adapter pattern is generally preferred when more flexibility is needed, as it loosely couples the adapter and Adaptee.

In short, the key difference is that the Class Adapter subclasses both the Target and the Adaptee, while the Object Adapter uses composition to forward requests to the Adaptee.

Conclusion

Adapter Design Pattern plays a crucial role in facilitating communication between incompatible interfaces, making it an invaluable tool in software development. By exploring the various types of adapters—such as the Class Adapter and Object Adapter—you can enhance the flexibility and maintainability of your code.

As we’ve seen, each type of adapter has its unique structure, advantages, and challenges. Understanding these nuances allows you to choose the right adapter for your specific needs, ultimately leading to more efficient and cleaner code. As you continue to develop your projects, consider how the Adapter Design Pattern can streamline integration efforts and improve your software architecture. Embrace these patterns, and empower your code to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving technological landscape. Happy coding!

In software development, we frequently face challenges when trying to connect different systems or components. One design pattern that can facilitate this integration is the Class Adapter Pattern. Despite its potential, many developers overlook this pattern in their day-to-day coding due to the complexities of multiple inheritance. However, with the right approach—by cleverly extending and implementing—we can harness its power effectively.

In this blog, we will explore the Class Adapter Pattern in detail. We’ll break down its structure and functionality, walk through a straightforward example, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using this pattern. By the end, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to apply the Class Adapter Pattern in your projects, empowering you to create more flexible and maintainable code. Let’s dive in and unlock the possibilities of the Class Adapter Pattern together!

Class Adapter Pattern

The Class Adapter Pattern is a structural design pattern where an adapter class inherits from both the target interface and the adaptee class. Unlike the Object Adapter Pattern, which uses composition (holding an instance of the adaptee), the Class Adapter Pattern uses multiple inheritance to directly connect the client and the adaptee.

In languages like Kotlin, which do not support true multiple inheritance, we simulate it by using interfaces. The adapter will implement the target interface and extend the adaptee class to bridge the gap between incompatible interfaces.

Before going into much detail, let’s first understand the structure of the Class Adapter Pattern.

Structure of Class Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects to interact with.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: A class that inherits from both the target interface and the adaptee, adapting the adaptee to be compatible with the client.

In this UML diagram of the Class Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Inherits from → Adaptee
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the target interface

Key Points:

• The Class Adapter pattern relies on inheritance to connect the Adaptee and the Target Interface.
• The adapter inherits from the adaptee and implements the target interface, thus combining both functionalities.

Simple Example of Class Adapter Pattern 

Now, let’s look at an example of the Class Adapter Pattern. We’ll use the same scenario: a charger that expects a USB Type-C interface but has an old phone that only supports Micro-USB.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

This is the interface that the client (charger) expects.

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the class that needs to be adapted. It’s the old phone with a Micro-USB charging port.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Define the Adapter (Class Adapter)

The Adapter inherits from the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger (target interface). It adapts the MicroUsbPhone to be compatible with the UsbTypeCCharger interface.

// Adapter that inherits from MicroUsbPhone and implements UsbTypeCCharger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter : MicroUsbPhone(), UsbTypeCCharger {
    // Implement the method from UsbTypeCCharger
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        // Call the inherited method from MicroUsbPhone
        rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Uses the Micro-USB method to charge
    }
}

Step 4: Client Usage

The Client only interacts with the UsbTypeCCharger interface and charges the phone through the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Adapter that allows charging a Micro-USB phone with a USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter()

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone through the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The client expects all phones to be charged using the UsbTypeCCharger interface.
• Adapter: The adapter class inherits the behavior of the MicroUsbPhone (adaptee) and implements the UsbTypeCCharger interface. It converts the USB Type-C charging request and delegates it to the inherited rechargeWithMicroUsb() method.
• Adaptee (Micro-USB phone): The MicroUsbPhone class has a method to recharge using Micro-USB, which is directly called by the adapter.

What’s Happening in Each Step

1. Client: The client attempts to charge a phone using the chargeWithUsbTypeC() method.
2. Adapter: The adapter intercepts this request and converts it to the rechargeWithMicroUsb() method, which it inherits from the MicroUsbPhone class.
3. Adaptee: The phone charges using the rechargeWithMicroUsb() method, fulfilling the request.

Class Adapter Pattern Short Recap

• Class Adapter pattern uses inheritance to connect the adaptee and target interface.
• The adapter inherits the functionality of the adaptee and implements the target interface, converting the incompatible interface.
• In this pattern, the adapter can directly access the methods of the adaptee class because it extends it, which may provide better performance in certain situations but can also lead to more coupling between the classes.

Advantages of Class Adapter Pattern

• Simplicity: Since the adapter inherits from the adaptee, there’s no need to explicitly manage the adaptee object.
• Performance: Direct inheritance avoids the overhead of composition (no need to hold a reference to the adaptee), potentially improving performance in certain cases.
• Code Reusability: You can extend the adapter functionality by inheriting additional methods from the adaptee.

Disadvantages of Class Adapter Pattern

• Less Flexibility: Since the adapter inherits from the adaptee, it is tightly coupled to it. It cannot be used to adapt multiple adaptees (unlike the Object Adapter Pattern, which can wrap different adaptees).
• Single Adaptee: It only works with one adaptee due to inheritance, whereas the Object Adapter can work with multiple adaptees by holding references to different objects.

Conclusion

Class Adapter Pattern is a valuable design tool that can simplify the integration of diverse components in your software projects. While it may seem complex due to the challenges of multiple inheritance, understanding its structure and application can unlock significant benefits.

By leveraging the Class Adapter Pattern, you can create more adaptable and maintainable code, enabling seamless communication between different interfaces. As we’ve explored, this pattern offers unique advantages, but it’s essential to weigh its drawbacks in your specific context.

As you continue your development journey, consider how the Class Adapter Pattern can enhance your solutions. Embracing such design patterns not only improves your code quality but also equips you with the skills to tackle increasingly complex challenges with confidence.

Happy coding!

In the fast-paced world of software development, it’s easy to overlook some of the powerful design patterns that can streamline our code and enhance its flexibility. One such pattern is the Object Adapter Design Pattern. While many developers use it in their projects, it often gets sidelined amid tight deadlines and urgent tasks. However, understanding this pattern can significantly improve the quality of our software architecture.

In this blog, we’ll dive into the Object Adapter Design Pattern, exploring its structure and purpose. I’ll guide you through a simple example to illustrate its implementation, showcasing how it can bridge the gap between incompatible interfaces. By the end, you’ll see why this pattern is an essential tool in your development toolkit—making your code not only more adaptable but also easier to maintain and extend. Let’s unlock the potential of the Object Adapter Design Pattern together!

Object Adapter Pattern Definition

The Object Adapter Pattern is a structural design pattern that allows objects with incompatible interfaces to collaborate by using composition rather than inheritance. Instead of modifying the existing class (adaptee), the adapter creates a bridge between the client and the adaptee by holding a reference to the adaptee. This approach enables flexible and reusable solutions without altering existing code.

In the Object Adapter Pattern, the adapter contains an instance of the adaptee and implements the interface expected by the client. It “adapts” the methods of the adaptee to fit the expected interface.

Structure of Object Adapter Pattern

1. Client: The class that interacts with the target interface.
2. Target Interface: The interface that the client expects.
3. Adaptee: The class with an incompatible interface that needs to be adapted.
4. Adapter: The class that implements the target interface and holds a reference to the adaptee, enabling the two incompatible interfaces to work together.

In this UML diagram of the Object Adapter Pattern,

• Client → Depends on → Target Interface
• Adapter → Implements → Target Interface
• Adapter → Has a reference to → Adaptee
• Adaptee → Has methods incompatible with the Target Interface

Key Points:

• Object Adapter uses composition (by containing the adaptee) instead of inheritance, which makes it more flexible and reusable.
• The adapter doesn’t alter the existing Adaptee class but makes it compatible with the Target Interface.

Simple Example 

Let’s consider a simple scenario where we want to charge different types of phones, but their charging ports are incompatible.

1. The Client is a phone charger that expects to use a USB type-C charging port.
2. The Adaptee is an old phone that uses a micro-USB charging port.
3. The Adapter bridges the difference by converting the micro-USB interface to a USB type-C interface.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

The charger (client) expects all phones to implement this interface (USB Type-C).

// Target interface that the client expects
interface UsbTypeCCharger {
    fun chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Step 2: Define the Adaptee

This is the old phone, which only has a Micro-USB port. The charger can’t directly use this interface.

// Adaptee class that uses Micro-USB for charging
class MicroUsbPhone {
    fun rechargeWithMicroUsb() {
        println("Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port")
    }
}

Step 3: Create the Adapter

The adapter will “adapt” the Micro-USB phone to make it compatible with the USB Type-C charger. It wraps the MicroUsbPhone and translates the charging request.

// Adapter that makes Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
class MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(private val microUsbPhone: MicroUsbPhone) : UsbTypeCCharger {
    override fun chargeWithUsbTypeC() {
        println("Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB")
        microUsbPhone.rechargeWithMicroUsb() // Delegating the charging to the Micro-USB phone
    }
}

Step 4: Implement the Client

The client (charger) works with the target interface (UsbTypeCCharger). It can now charge a phone with a Micro-USB port by using the adapter.

fun main() {
    // Old phone with a Micro-USB port (Adaptee)
    val microUsbPhone = MicroUsbPhone()

    // Adapter that makes the Micro-USB phone compatible with USB Type-C charger
    val usbTypeCAdapter = MicroUsbToUsbTypeCAdapter(microUsbPhone)

    // Client (USB Type-C Charger) charges the phone using the adapter
    println("Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger")
    usbTypeCAdapter.chargeWithUsbTypeC()
}

Output:

Client: Charging phone using USB Type-C charger
Adapter: Converting USB Type-C to Micro-USB
Micro-USB phone: Charging using Micro-USB port

Here,

• Client: The charger expects all phones to be charged using a USB Type-C port, so it calls chargeWithUsbTypeC().
• Adapter: The adapter receives the request from the client to charge using USB Type-C. It converts this request and adapts it to the MicroUsbPhone by calling rechargeWithMicroUsb() internally.
• Adaptee (MicroUsbPhone): The phone knows how to charge itself using Micro-USB. The adapter simply makes it compatible with the client’s expectation.

What’s Happening in Each Step

1. Client: The charger (client) is asking to charge a phone via USB Type-C.
2. Adapter: The adapter intercepts this request and converts it to something the old phone understands, which is charging via Micro-USB.
3. Adaptee (Micro-USB phone): The old phone proceeds with charging using its Micro-USB port.

This structure makes the responsibilities of each component clearer:

• The adapter’s job is to convert between incompatible interfaces.
• The client only works with the UsbTypeCCharger interface, while the old phone uses its own rechargeWithMicroUsb() method.

Object Adapter Pattern Short Recap

• Object Adapter relies on composition rather than inheritance to adapt one interface to another.
• It is used when you need to integrate an existing class (adaptee) with an interface that it does not implement.
• This pattern ensures that you do not need to modify the adaptee class to make it compatible with a new system.

Advantages of Object Adapter Pattern

• Flexibility: By using composition, the adapter pattern allows multiple adaptees to be wrapped by the same adapter without modifying the adaptee classes.
• Code Reusability: The adapter allows reusing existing classes even if their interfaces do not match the required one.
• Separation of Concerns: The client is decoupled from the adaptee, making the system easier to maintain and extend.

Conclusion

The Object Adapter Design Pattern serves as a powerful solution for integrating incompatible interfaces, making it a vital asset in our software development arsenal. By facilitating communication between different classes without modifying their source code, this pattern promotes flexibility and reusability, ultimately leading to cleaner, more maintainable code.

As we’ve explored, implementing the Object Adapter not only simplifies complex interactions but also enhances the scalability of your applications. Whether you’re working on legacy systems or integrating new functionalities, the Object Adapter Design Pattern can help you tackle challenges with ease.

Embracing design patterns like the Object Adapter allows us to write code that is not just functional, but also elegant and robust. So, the next time you find yourself in a hurry, take a moment to consider how the Object Adapter can streamline your solution. By investing a little time to understand and apply this pattern, you’ll be well-equipped to create software that stands the test of time. Happy coding!