Examples of GoF Design Patterns in Java's core libraries
Solution 1:
You can find an overview of a lot of design patterns in Wikipedia. It also mentions which patterns are mentioned by GoF. I'll sum them up here and try to assign as many pattern implementations as possible, found in both the Java SE and Java EE APIs.
Creational patterns
Abstract factory (recognizeable by creational methods returning the factory itself which in turn can be used to create another abstract/interface type)
javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory#newInstance()
javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory#newInstance()
javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory#newInstance()
Builder (recognizeable by creational methods returning the instance itself)
-
java.lang.StringBuilder#append()
(unsynchronized) -
java.lang.StringBuffer#append()
(synchronized) -
java.nio.ByteBuffer#put()
(also onCharBuffer
,ShortBuffer
,IntBuffer
,LongBuffer
,FloatBuffer
andDoubleBuffer
) javax.swing.GroupLayout.Group#addComponent()
- All implementations of
java.lang.Appendable
java.util.stream.Stream.Builder
Factory method (recognizeable by creational methods returning an implementation of an abstract/interface type)
java.util.Calendar#getInstance()
java.util.ResourceBundle#getBundle()
java.text.NumberFormat#getInstance()
java.nio.charset.Charset#forName()
-
java.net.URLStreamHandlerFactory#createURLStreamHandler(String)
(Returns singleton object per protocol) java.util.EnumSet#of()
-
javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext#createMarshaller()
and other similar methods
Prototype (recognizeable by creational methods returning a different instance of itself with the same properties)
-
java.lang.Object#clone()
(the class has to implementjava.lang.Cloneable
)
Singleton (recognizeable by creational methods returning the same instance (usually of itself) everytime)
java.lang.Runtime#getRuntime()
java.awt.Desktop#getDesktop()
java.lang.System#getSecurityManager()
Structural patterns
Adapter (recognizeable by creational methods taking an instance of different abstract/interface type and returning an implementation of own/another abstract/interface type which decorates/overrides the given instance)
java.util.Arrays#asList()
java.util.Collections#list()
java.util.Collections#enumeration()
-
java.io.InputStreamReader(InputStream)
(returns aReader
) -
java.io.OutputStreamWriter(OutputStream)
(returns aWriter
) -
javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter#marshal()
and#unmarshal()
Bridge (recognizeable by creational methods taking an instance of different abstract/interface type and returning an implementation of own abstract/interface type which delegates/uses the given instance)
- None comes to mind yet. A fictive example would be
new LinkedHashMap(LinkedHashSet<K>, List<V>)
which returns an unmodifiable linked map which doesn't clone the items, but uses them. Thejava.util.Collections#newSetFromMap()
andsingletonXXX()
methods however comes close.
Composite (recognizeable by behavioral methods taking an instance of same abstract/interface type into a tree structure)
-
java.awt.Container#add(Component)
(practically all over Swing thus) -
javax.faces.component.UIComponent#getChildren()
(practically all over JSF UI thus)
Decorator (recognizeable by creational methods taking an instance of same abstract/interface type which adds additional behaviour)
- All subclasses of
java.io.InputStream
,OutputStream
,Reader
andWriter
have a constructor taking an instance of same type. -
java.util.Collections
, thecheckedXXX()
,synchronizedXXX()
andunmodifiableXXX()
methods. -
javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequestWrapper
andHttpServletResponseWrapper
javax.swing.JScrollPane
Facade (recognizeable by behavioral methods which internally uses instances of different independent abstract/interface types)
-
javax.faces.context.FacesContext
, it internally uses among others the abstract/interface typesLifeCycle
,ViewHandler
,NavigationHandler
and many more without that the enduser has to worry about it (which are however overrideable by injection). -
javax.faces.context.ExternalContext
, which internally usesServletContext
,HttpSession
,HttpServletRequest
,HttpServletResponse
, etc.
Flyweight (recognizeable by creational methods returning a cached instance, a bit the "multiton" idea)
-
java.lang.Integer#valueOf(int)
(also onBoolean
,Byte
,Character
,Short
,Long
andBigDecimal
)
Proxy (recognizeable by creational methods which returns an implementation of given abstract/interface type which in turn delegates/uses a different implementation of given abstract/interface type)
java.lang.reflect.Proxy
java.rmi.*
-
javax.ejb.EJB
(explanation here) -
javax.inject.Inject
(explanation here) javax.persistence.PersistenceContext
Behavioral patterns
Chain of responsibility (recognizeable by behavioral methods which (indirectly) invokes the same method in another implementation of same abstract/interface type in a queue)
java.util.logging.Logger#log()
javax.servlet.Filter#doFilter()
Command (recognizeable by behavioral methods in an abstract/interface type which invokes a method in an implementation of a different abstract/interface type which has been encapsulated by the command implementation during its creation)
- All implementations of
java.lang.Runnable
- All implementations of
javax.swing.Action
Interpreter (recognizeable by behavioral methods returning a structurally different instance/type of the given instance/type; note that parsing/formatting is not part of the pattern, determining the pattern and how to apply it is)
java.util.Pattern
java.text.Normalizer
- All subclasses of
java.text.Format
- All subclasses of
javax.el.ELResolver
Iterator (recognizeable by behavioral methods sequentially returning instances of a different type from a queue)
- All implementations of
java.util.Iterator
(thus among others alsojava.util.Scanner
!). - All implementations of
java.util.Enumeration
Mediator (recognizeable by behavioral methods taking an instance of different abstract/interface type (usually using the command pattern) which delegates/uses the given instance)
-
java.util.Timer
(allscheduleXXX()
methods) java.util.concurrent.Executor#execute()
-
java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService
(theinvokeXXX()
andsubmit()
methods) -
java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService
(allscheduleXXX()
methods) java.lang.reflect.Method#invoke()
Memento (recognizeable by behavioral methods which internally changes the state of the whole instance)
-
java.util.Date
(the setter methods do that,Date
is internally represented by along
value) - All implementations of
java.io.Serializable
- All implementations of
javax.faces.component.StateHolder
Observer (or Publish/Subscribe) (recognizeable by behavioral methods which invokes a method on an instance of another abstract/interface type, depending on own state)
-
java.util.Observer
/java.util.Observable
(rarely used in real world though) - All implementations of
java.util.EventListener
(practically all over Swing thus) javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionBindingListener
javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionAttributeListener
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener
State (recognizeable by behavioral methods which changes its behaviour depending on the instance's state which can be controlled externally)
-
javax.faces.lifecycle.LifeCycle#execute()
(controlled byFacesServlet
, the behaviour is dependent on current phase (state) of JSF lifecycle)
Strategy (recognizeable by behavioral methods in an abstract/interface type which invokes a method in an implementation of a different abstract/interface type which has been passed-in as method argument into the strategy implementation)
-
java.util.Comparator#compare()
, executed by among othersCollections#sort()
. -
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
, theservice()
and alldoXXX()
methods takeHttpServletRequest
andHttpServletResponse
and the implementor has to process them (and not to get hold of them as instance variables!). javax.servlet.Filter#doFilter()
Template method (recognizeable by behavioral methods which already have a "default" behaviour defined by an abstract type)
- All non-abstract methods of
java.io.InputStream
,java.io.OutputStream
,java.io.Reader
andjava.io.Writer
. - All non-abstract methods of
java.util.AbstractList
,java.util.AbstractSet
andjava.util.AbstractMap
. -
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
, all thedoXXX()
methods by default sends a HTTP 405 "Method Not Allowed" error to the response. You're free to implement none or any of them.
Visitor (recognizeable by two different abstract/interface types which has methods defined which takes each the other abstract/interface type; the one actually calls the method of the other and the other executes the desired strategy on it)
-
javax.lang.model.element.AnnotationValue
andAnnotationValueVisitor
-
javax.lang.model.element.Element
andElementVisitor
-
javax.lang.model.type.TypeMirror
andTypeVisitor
-
java.nio.file.FileVisitor
andSimpleFileVisitor
-
javax.faces.component.visit.VisitContext
andVisitCallback
Solution 2:
- Observer pattern throughout whole swing (
Observable
,Observer
) - MVC also in swing
- Adapter pattern: InputStreamReader and OutputStreamWriter
NOTE:
ContainerAdapter
,ComponentAdapter
,FocusAdapter
,KeyAdapter
,MouseAdapter
are not adapters; they are actually Null Objects. Poor naming choice by Sun. - Decorator pattern (
BufferedInputStream
can decorate other streams such asFilterInputStream
) - AbstractFactory Pattern for the AWT Toolkit and the Swing pluggable look-and-feel classes
-
java.lang.Runtime#getRuntime()
is Singleton -
ButtonGroup
for Mediator pattern -
Action
,AbstractAction
may be used for different visual representations to execute same code -> Command pattern - Interned Strings or CellRender in JTable for Flyweight Pattern (Also think about various pools - Thread pools, connection pools, EJB object pools - Flyweight is really about management of shared resources)
- The Java 1.0 event model is an example of Chain of Responsibility, as are Servlet Filters.
- Iterator pattern in Collections Framework
- Nested containers in AWT/Swing use the Composite pattern
- Layout Managers in AWT/Swing are an example of Strategy
and many more I guess
Solution 3:
- Flyweight is used with some values of Byte, Short, Integer, Long and String.
- Facade is used in many place but the most obvious is Scripting interfaces.
- Singleton - java.lang.Runtime comes to mind.
- Abstract Factory - Also Scripting and JDBC API.
- Command - TextComponent's Undo/Redo.
- Interpreter - RegEx (java.util.regex.) and SQL (java.sql.) API.
-
Prototype - Not 100% sure if this count, but I thinkg
clone()
method can be used for this purpose.
Solution 4:
RMI is based on Proxy.
Should be possible to cite one for most of the 23 patterns in GoF:
- Abstract Factory: java.sql interfaces all get their concrete implementations from JDBC JAR when driver is registered.
- Builder: java.lang.StringBuilder.
- Factory Method: XML factories, among others.
- Prototype: Maybe clone(), but I'm not sure I'm buying that.
- Singleton: java.lang.System
- Adapter: Adapter classes in java.awt.event, e.g., WindowAdapter.
- Bridge: Collection classes in java.util. List implemented by ArrayList.
- Composite: java.awt. java.awt.Component + java.awt.Container
- Decorator: All over the java.io package.
- Facade: ExternalContext behaves as a facade for performing cookie, session scope and similar operations.
- Flyweight: Integer, Character, etc.
- Proxy: java.rmi package
- Chain of Responsibility: Servlet filters
- Command: Swing menu items
- Interpreter: No directly in JDK, but JavaCC certainly uses this.
- Iterator: java.util.Iterator interface; can't be clearer than that.
- Mediator: JMS?
- Memento:
- Observer: java.util.Observer/Observable (badly done, though)
- State:
- Strategy:
- Template:
- Visitor:
I can't think of examples in Java for 10 out of the 23, but I'll see if I can do better tomorrow. That's what edit is for.
Solution 5:
The Abstract Factory pattern is used in various places.
E.g., DatagramSocketImplFactory
, PreferencesFactory
. There are many more---search the Javadoc for interfaces which have the word "Factory" in their name.
Also there are quite a few instances of the Factory pattern, too.