A design pattern for writing extendible software

[Efi Merdler]

Hello,
I would like to write a software that supports extendibility i.e.
plugins that interact with public API.
Is there any kind of a design pattern that supports such idea ?

Thank you,
Efi

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Hello,
I would like to write a software that supports extendibility i.e.
plugins that interact with public API.
Is there any kind of a design pattern that supports such idea ?

There's a pretty fundamental "design pattern" which will do: the
interface. Declare a plugin interface, which 3rd parties can write
implementations of.
i.e. you have something like:

public interface Plugin {
public int connectToChicken(int legs);

public int pollShatner(long kidneys);

public void close();
}

3rd parties then provide classes which implement this interface.

Also see 'delegation', and perhaps 'strategy pattern'. (Search the web
for these terms.)