What is Prototype Design Pattern?
The prototype design pattern is a creational design pattern that allows creating new objects by cloning an existing object. This pattern is useful when the creation of an object is costly or complex, and we want to avoid repeating the same process for each new instance. By using the prototype pattern, we can create new objects by copying the properties and behaviors of an existing object, and then modifying them as needed.
One of the benefits of the prototype pattern is that it reduces the dependency on subclasses and factory methods. Instead of creating objects using specific constructors or factory methods, we can use a generic prototype object that can be cloned and customized. This makes the code more flexible and extensible, as we can add new types of objects without changing the existing code.
Components of Prototype Pattern
- Prototype: This will be an interface or abstract class used for the types of objects that can be cloned. In our example, it is going to be the Employee Abstract Class.
- ConcretePrototype: This class will implement the Prototype abstract class or interface for cloning. In our example, it will be the PermanetEmployee and TemporaryEmployee Classes.
- Client: The client is the class that creates a new object by asking a prototype to clone itself.
