Mastering Delphi Programming: A Complete Reference Guide

Prototype

The prototype pattern is very simple in concept. It describes a way for an object to make a copy of itself. In other words, we start with one object (prototype) and end with two indistinguishable copies.

We don't have to look far to find a real-life example of the prototype pattern. Life, as we know it, is based on cellular division, a process in which one cell divides into two identical copies of itself.

Every implementation of this pattern is very specific to the target environment. In Delphi, we can implement a prototype pattern by creating a new object and copying old contents to the new instance in some way. Creating a new object is simple, but copying data may not be. In this section, we'll mostly deal with the copy mechanism. ...