Prototype design pattern — Java

Definition of Prototype pattern

The prototype pattern is a creational design pattern in software development. It is used when the type of objects to create is determined by a prototypical instance, which is cloned to produce new objects.

Where to use the Prototype pattern

If the cost for creating a new object is expensive and costs resources.

UML example of the Prototype pattern

Implementation of the builder pattern

First we need to create our prototype class

The getClone() *method will be implemented in the class that will implement the prototype to return a new object of the same class.
In the next example we will create a Human and then implement the method to clone him.

As you can read, the *getClone() will return me another Human with the same name, last name and age to the one created before.

Exemple :

The following code will give me the following output

Human description
---------------------------------
Name Last Name Age
Erwan Le Tutour 30
Human description
---------------------------------
Name Last Name Age
Erwan Le Tutour 30

As you can see above, my human2 has the same properties values as my human1, but they will only be equals if I implement the *equals() *method to do so.