Design Patterns: Like Recipes, But for Code
24 Apr 2025
Design Patterns: Like Recipes, But for Code
When I first started writing code, I thought being a good developer meant doing everything from scratch. No shortcuts, no templates just me, VS Code, and vibes. But the more I coded, the more I realized I was basically making spaghetti every time — messy, tangled, and not super reusable.
That’s when I learned about design patterns. And honestly, they kind of changed how I see code. If I had to explain them in a way that makes sense, I’d say they’re like recipes for common problems in programming. They don’t tell you exactly what to cook, but they give you a solid structure like “hey, if you’re trying to bake a cake, here’s a method that won’t burn the kitchen down.”
The Singleton Surprise
One of the first patterns I ended up using (without even knowing it had a name) was the Singleton Pattern. In a group project, we needed a config file that every part of the app could use. So I made a little module that loaded the config once and returned the same data every time. At the time I was just like, “Cool, it works.” Later in class, I realized: “Wait… that’s literally the Singleton Pattern.” And it made sense why it worked so smoothly.
The Observer Pattern in Real Time
Another one I actually used on purpose was the Observer Pattern. We had this dashboard that needed to update when the backend data changed. Instead of making the frontend constantly check for updates (which would’ve been a laggy mess), I set up a system where components “subscribed” to updates and got notified when something changed. It worked way better than my first idea (which was basically a loop that never ended).
Factories: Like Burger Builders for Components
The last one I’ve used a lot recently is the Factory Pattern. In our Next.js app, we had different types of content cards jobs, events, blogs, stuff like that. Instead of doing a bunch of if/else statements everywhere, I made a factory function that just returned the right component based on the type. Super clean. Easy to expand later. And it didn’t turn into a giant mess when we needed to add new types.
Why Design Patterns Actually Matter
I think the coolest part about design patterns is that they save you from re-inventing the wheel. Developers before us already ran into the same problems — design patterns are basically their way of saying “here’s how I solved this, so you don’t have to suffer too.”
If someone asked me in an interview, “What are design patterns?” I’d probably say, “They’re like battle-tested strategies for solving coding problems that show up a lot.” And if they asked which ones I’ve used, I’d tell them: Singleton, Observer, and Factory. Not just because I studied them, but because I actually used them — and they genuinely made my projects better.
I used ChatGPT to help brainstorm and organize this essay, but all the experiences and examples are from my own projects.