Is AOP a type of decorator pattern

aopdecoratordesign-patternslanguage-agnostic

I got asked this question in a interview. I clearly know what a decorator pattern is and how it can be used. But I was not able to think through this question in the interview.

This is the actual question asked.

Is AOP a variation of decorator pattern ? How does the AOP implementation vary from trademark decorator pattern ?

Best Answer

I would say AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming) is NOT a pattern by itself (and thus not a type of decorator pattern from my POV)... its implementation can be done via one or more patterns (including the use of decorator pattern)... AOP is a programming paradigm IMHO - other paradigms are for example OOP, functional programming or procedural programming...

Related Solutions

Difference between static class and singleton pattern

What makes you say that either a singleton or a static method isn't thread-safe? Usually both should be implemented to be thread-safe.

The big difference between a singleton and a bunch of static methods is that singletons can implement interfaces (or derive from useful base classes, although that's less common, in my experience), so you can pass around the singleton as if it were "just another" implementation.

C++ Singleton design pattern

In 2008 I provided a C++98 implementation of the Singleton design pattern that is lazy-evaluated, guaranteed-destruction, not-technically-thread-safe:
Can any one provide me a sample of Singleton in c++?

Here is an updated C++11 implementation of the Singleton design pattern that is lazy-evaluated, correctly-destroyed, and thread-safe.

class S
{
    public:
        static S& getInstance()
        {
            static S    instance; // Guaranteed to be destroyed.
                                  // Instantiated on first use.
            return instance;
        }
    private:
        S() {}                    // Constructor? (the {} brackets) are needed here.

        // C++ 03
        // ========
        // Don't forget to declare these two. You want to make sure they
        // are inaccessible(especially from outside), otherwise, you may accidentally get copies of
        // your singleton appearing.
        S(S const&);              // Don't Implement
        void operator=(S const&); // Don't implement

        // C++ 11
        // =======
        // We can use the better technique of deleting the methods
        // we don't want.
    public:
        S(S const&)               = delete;
        void operator=(S const&)  = delete;

        // Note: Scott Meyers mentions in his Effective Modern
        //       C++ book, that deleted functions should generally
        //       be public as it results in better error messages
        //       due to the compilers behavior to check accessibility
        //       before deleted status
};

See this article about when to use a singleton: (not often)
Singleton: How should it be used

See this two article about initialization order and how to cope:
Static variables initialisation order
Finding C++ static initialization order problems

See this article describing lifetimes:
What is the lifetime of a static variable in a C++ function?

See this article that discusses some threading implications to singletons:
Singleton instance declared as static variable of GetInstance method, is it thread-safe?

See this article that explains why double checked locking will not work on C++:
What are all the common undefined behaviours that a C++ programmer should know about?
Dr Dobbs: C++ and The Perils of Double-Checked Locking: Part I

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Difference between static class and singleton pattern

C++ Singleton design pattern

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