In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template for how to solve a problem that...
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
In computer science, abstraction is the process by which data and programs are defined with a representation similar to its pictorial meaning as rooted in the more complex realm of human life and language with their higher need of summarization and categorization , while hiding away the...
Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy.-Computer Science:...
so that the two can vary independently". The bridge uses encapsulation, aggregation, and can use inheritance
Inheritance (object-oriented programming)
In object-oriented programming , inheritance is a way to reuse code of existing objects, establish a subtype from an existing object, or both, depending upon programming language support...
to separate responsibilities into different classes
Class (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a class is a construct that is used as a blueprint to create instances of itself – referred to as class instances, class objects, instance objects or simply objects. A class defines constituent members which enable these class instances to have state and behavior...
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
can be made easily with minimal prior knowledge about the program. The bridge pattern is useful when both the class as well as what it does vary often. The class itself can be thought of as the implementation and what the class can do as the abstraction. The bridge pattern can also be thought of as two layers of abstraction.
The bridge pattern is often confused with the adapter pattern
Adapter pattern
In computer programming, the adapter pattern is a design pattern that translates one interface for a class into a compatible interface...
. In fact, the bridge pattern is often implemented using the class adapter pattern, e.g. in the Java code below.
Variant: The implementation can be decoupled even more by deferring the presence of the implementation to the point where the abstraction is utilized.
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
(SE 6) program illustrates the 'shape' example given below and will output:
API1.circle at 1.000000:2.000000 radius 7.500000
API2.circle at 5.000000:7.000000 radius 27.500000
/** "Implementor" */
interface DrawingAPI {
public void drawCircle(double x, double y, double radius);
}
/** "ConcreteImplementor" 1/2 */
class DrawingAPI1 implements DrawingAPI {
public void drawCircle(double x, double y, double radius) {
System.out.printf("API1.circle at %f:%f radius %f\n", x, y, radius);
}
}
/** "ConcreteImplementor" 2/2 */
class DrawingAPI2 implements DrawingAPI {
public void drawCircle(double x, double y, double radius) {
System.out.printf("API2.circle at %f:%f radius %f\n", x, y, radius);
}
}
/** "Abstraction" */
interface Shape {
public void draw; // low-level
public void resizeByPercentage(double pct); // high-level
}
/** "Refined Abstraction" */
class CircleShape implements Shape {
private double x, y, radius;
private DrawingAPI drawingAPI;
public CircleShape(double x, double y, double radius, DrawingAPI drawingAPI) {
this.x = x; this.y = y; this.radius = radius;
this.drawingAPI = drawingAPI;
}
// low-level i.e. Implementation specific
public void draw {
drawingAPI.drawCircle(x, y, radius);
}
// high-level i.e. Abstraction specific
public void resizeByPercentage(double pct) {
radius *= pct;
}
}
/** "Client" */
class BridgePattern {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shape[] shapes = new Shape[] {
new CircleShape(1, 2, 3, new DrawingAPI1),
new CircleShape(5, 7, 11, new DrawingAPI2),
};
