Patterns Glossary

Browse 36 patterns terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

36 Patterns Terms

Action
Action in software development refers to a discrete operation or event that triggers a state change or side effect within an application. In the Redux state...
Architecture
The high-level structural design of a software system — encompassing component decomposition, communication patterns, data flow, and deployment topology — that...
Architecture Pattern
A reusable high-level solution shape for organizing software systems, such as layered architecture, event-driven systems, or CQRS. Architecture patterns help...
Async Pattern
A recurring way of structuring asynchronous work, such as fan-out/fan-in, pipelines, task queues, backpressure, or cancellation-aware execution. Choosing the...
Availability Pattern
A recurring design approach used to keep systems responsive and recoverable despite failures, such as retries, circuit breakers, failover, replication, and...
Bulkhead Pattern
Bulkhead Pattern is a software resilience design pattern inspired by the watertight compartments in a ship's hull that prevent a single breach from sinking the...
Caching Pattern
A recurring approach to caching such as cache-aside, write-through, write-behind, read-through, or refresh-ahead. Different caching patterns make different...
Callback Pattern
A programming style in which functions or components accept callbacks to continue work or handle results once an operation completes. The callback pattern was...
Chain Pattern
A design pattern in which a request or piece of data is passed through a sequence of handlers, each of which may process it, modify it, or decide whether to...
circuit breaker
A design pattern that prevents an application from repeatedly trying to execute an operation that is likely to fail, by 'tripping' after a threshold of...
Code Genome
A playful metaphor for the recurring traits, conventions, and inherited structures that make a codebase recognizably itself. In engineering slang, the code...
Code Recipe
A repeatable set of steps, patterns, or ingredients for implementing a certain kind of technical solution. In developer slang, code recipe implies a pragmatic...
Command Pattern
A Command Pattern is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Command Query Separation
A Command Query Separation is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make...
Component Architecture
A Component Architecture is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make...
Component Composition
A Component Composition is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make...
Component Factory
A factory abstraction that creates components based on configuration, type, or runtime conditions rather than instantiating them directly throughout the...
Component Pattern
A recurring design approach for building or composing components, such as container/presentational split, compound components, controlled inputs, or render...
Composite Pattern
A Composite Pattern is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Composition
A Composition is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code easier...
Composition Root
A Composition Root is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Compound Component
A component pattern in which several related child components work together under a shared parent and context to form one higher-level widget. Compound...
CPU Architecture
A CPU Architecture is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Design Document
A Design Document is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Design Pattern
A design pattern is a reusable, named solution to a commonly recurring problem in software design. Patterns are not finished code but rather templates that...
Design Pattern Culture
A culture that leans heavily on named patterns and reusable design ideas when discussing architecture and implementation. This can create shared vocabulary,...
Document Object Model
A Document Object Model is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make...
Domain Model
A Domain Model is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code easier...
Elm Architecture
An Elm Architecture is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Facade Pattern
A Facade Pattern is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Factory of Factories
A mocking phrase for excessive abstraction, especially when factory patterns have been layered so far that the architecture seems to produce only more...
Flux Architecture
A Flux Architecture is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make code...
Integration Pattern
An Integration Pattern is a development concept used to shape how software is built, executed, or maintained in real systems. Developers rely on it to make...
sidecar
A deployment pattern where a helper container runs alongside the main application container in the same pod, providing auxiliary functionality like logging,...
Software Architecture
The high-level structural decisions of a software system — how it is decomposed into components, how those components communicate, and the constraints and...
String of Pearls
A sequence of individually small things that form a meaningful pattern when viewed together. In engineering slang, a string of pearls often describes scattered...

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