Learning Roadmap
Learn the meaning of objects and contracts before memorizing patterns. Revisit the same small domain from several viewpoints so diagrams, code, and tests reinforce each other.
What you’ll understand
- Learn the meaning of objects and contracts before memorizing patterns. Revisit the same small domain from several viewpoints so diagrams, code, and tests reinforce each other.
- Practice explaining a design decision with an example and a boundary case.
Start with behavior and ownership
Work through OOP fundamentals first, then distinguish association, aggregation, composition, dependency, and realization. These terms answer different questions: who knows whom, who controls a lifetime, and who fulfills a contract. Make a tiny example and predict the state before pressing Next.
- Begin with independent carts and encapsulated wallet state.
- Compare a live customer reference with a copied name.
- Explain rejected operations as carefully as successful ones.
Build judgment before a pattern catalog
Read the design principles and SOLID sections after you can identify responsibilities. Use UML to communicate decisions, then study patterns as responses to particular pressures. Compare Adapter with Facade, Strategy with State, and Decorator with inheritance. Similar diagrams can hide different intents.
- For each pattern, name the requirement that justifies it.
- Run the extension and boundary scenarios, not only the baseline.
- Keep a note of when the simpler implementation would be sufficient.
Finish with complete cases
Use Parking Lot, Vending Machine, and Notification Service to combine concepts. First explain your own model, then compare the supplied design. Reading completion and assessment results are separate: a finished article can still be worth revisiting.
- Bookmark a concept when its tradeoff is unclear.
- Use the quiz to distinguish neighboring ideas.
- Return to case studies after adding a new policy yourself on paper.