Common Design Patterns for Symbian OS: The Foundations of Smartphone Software

1.6. Design Pattern Template

Each pattern in this book is described using the following template:

1.6.1. Pattern Name

Intent

A one-line description of the pattern to give you a rough idea of the aim of the design pattern.

AKA

Stands for 'also known as' and gives other common names for the pattern.

1.6.2. Problem

1.6.2.1. Context

A single sentence that describes the environment or situations in which the problem occurs. This section provides a clear outline of the background to the problem and the assumptions that this entails.

1.6.2.2. Summary

Bullet points summarize each of the main forces involved in the problem that the pattern has to address. This section gives an at-a-glance answer to the question 'is this pattern going to be suitable for my particular problem?'

1.6.2.3. Description

Here, longer paragraphs expand on the bullet points in the summary. They answer questions such as 'when and where might this pattern apply?', 'is this a problem only when creating services or when building applications?', 'what makes this a particularly difficult problem?' and 'might each particular type of Symbian OS developer (device creator, application developer, etc.) experience this problem or do they just need an understanding of the pattern?' In most cases, a pattern will be fully implementable by all types of developers. In all cases, at least portions of the pattern will implementable by any Symbian OS developer.

1.6.2.4. Example

A real-world example of a problem based on Symbian ...