Mastering Python Design Patterns - Second Edition

Real-world examples

Reaching an airport to catch a flight is a good Strategy example used in real life:

• If we want to save money and we leave early, we can go by bus/train
• If we don't mind paying for a parking place and have our own car, we can go by car
• If we don't have a car but we are in a hurry, we can take a taxi

There are trade-offs between cost, time, convenience, and so forth.

In software, Python's sorted() and list.sort() functions are examples of the Strategy pattern. Both functions accept a named parameter key, which is basically the name of the function that implements a sorting strategy [Python 3 Patterns, Recipes, and Idioms, by Bruce Eckel-08, page 202].