Speaker: Klaus Iglberger

Audience level: [ Intermediate ]

Creational design patterns, among them the Factory Method, the Abstract Factory, and the Builder design patterns, are among the most commonly used design patterns. However, in the almost 30 years since their formulation, many misconceptions and myths have accumulated around these design patterns.

This talk tries to resolve some of the misunderstanding. In particular, it shows the difference between factory functions and Factory Method by clearly distinguishing between software design and implementation details. It explains the difference between Factory Method and Abstract Factory, and demonstrates the difference between different kinds of builders, some of them not at all related to the Builder design pattern.