View source for 9.5.1 Creational (Singleton, Factory)

=== 9.5.1 Creational (Singleton, Factory) ===
Creational design patterns are all about how objects are created. They help make sure objects are created in a flexible and organized way.

* '''Singleton:''' Imagine you have a school, and there's only ''one'' principal. It wouldn't make sense to have two principals, right? A Singleton pattern ensures that a class can only have ''one'' instance (one copy) of itself throughout the entire program. This is useful when you need to control access to a single resource, like a settings manager for a game or a single database connection.
* '''Factory:''' Think of a toy factory. You tell the factory, "I need a car toy," or "I need a doll toy," and the factory builds it for you. You don't need to know all the tiny steps involved in making each toy. The Factory pattern provides a way to create objects without specifying the exact type of object that will be created. It's like having a special method that decides which kind of object to make based on your request, hiding the complex creation process from you.

'''Bibliography:'''

* Gamma, Erich, Helm, Richard, Johnson, Ralph, and Vlissides, John. ''Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software''. Addison-Wesley Professional, 1994.