The facade pattern (or façade pattern) is a software design pattern commonly used with object-oriented programming. The name is by analogy to an architectural facade.
A facade is an object that provides a simplified interface to a larger body of code, such as a class library. A facade can:
- make a software library easier to use, understand and test, since the facade has convenient methods for common tasks;
- make the library more readable, for the same reason;
- reduce dependencies of outside code on the inner workings of a library, since most code uses the facade, thus allowing more flexibility in developing the system;
- wrap a poorly designed collection of APIs with a single well-designed API (as per task needs).
Famous quotes containing the words facade and/or pattern:
“Symbolism erects a facade of respectability to hide the indecency of dreams.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“It is a very true and expressive phrase, “He looked daggers at me,” for the first pattern and prototype of all daggers must have been a glance of the eye.... It is wonderful how we get about the streets without being wounded by these delicate and glancing weapons, a man can so nimbly whip out his rapier, or without being noticed carry it unsheathed. Yet it is rare that one gets seriously looked at.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)