Definition
It is an Object Creational pattern that enables a user to create objects without exposing how they are actually instantiated or by referring to the concrete class. It does this by introducing the FactoryClass which provides an interface that delegates this process.
Advantages or benefit
It creates families of related objects while keeping code loosely coupled and avoiding dependency on specific implementations.
Example
class Animal:
def speak(self):
pass
class Dog(Animal):
def speak(self):
return "Woof!"
class Cat(Animal):
def speak(self):
return "Meow!"
class AnimalFactory:
def create_animal(self, animal_type):
if animal_type == "dog":
return Dog()
elif animal_type == "cat":
return Cat()
else:
raise ValueError(f"Unknown animal type: {animal_type}")Usage of the Factory Pattern
if __name__ == "__main__":
animal_factory = AnimalFactory()
# Otherwise
dog = animal_factory.create_animal("dog") # dog = Dog()
cat = animal_factory.create_animal("cat") # cat = Cat()
print(dog.speak()) # Output: Woof!
print(cat.speak()) # Output: Meow!Objects dog and cat were created without refererring to their concrete classes. Dog and Cat