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PHP Design Patterns
Chapter 2 guided practice
Three branch-heavy snippets to refactor Three exercises. Each gives you a piece of branch-heavy PHP. Refactor it towards Strategy where Strategy fits, and recognise where it doesn't. This lesson is intentionally hands...
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PHP Design Patterns
A small end-to-end Strategy walkthrough
A notification dispatcher, end to end A complete, self-contained example showing the full arc — problem to solution — in one file. The starting point A notification dispatcher. One method, three channels. <?php...
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PHP Design Patterns
Reviewing branch-heavy code through a Strategy lens
Reading other people's if-chains You'll see other people's branch-heavy code in PRs and legacy files long before you have permission to refactor it. Here's a checklist for reading it well. Read for the actual variatio...
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PHP Design Patterns
When Strategy is overkill
Cases where a match beats an interface Strategy is one of the most over-applied patterns. Two or three branches do not need an interface and three classes. Here are the cases where Strategy is the wrong move and what ...
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PHP Design Patterns
When Strategy is the right call
Signals that say "do it now" The hardest part of using design patterns well is knowing when to actually reach for them. Here are the signals that mean Strategy is the right call right now — not "maybe...
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PHP Design Patterns
Testing strategies cleanly
One test per rule, one test per picker One of Strategy's big practical wins is what it does to your tests. Before — testing the calculator In the Before code, every test had to construct the whole calculator and pas...
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PHP Design Patterns
How Strategy relates to Factory and State
Strategy, Factory, and State: who decides what Strategy is often confused with two other patterns because the structure looks similar — an interface and several implementations. The difference is in what changes and...
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PHP Design Patterns
Common variants of Strategy
Class, closure, or config map: pick the lightest fit Strategy doesn't have to be one interface and N classes. Three common shapes show up in PHP, and picking the right one keeps the pattern from feeling heavyweight. V...
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PHP Design Patterns
Refactoring towards Strategy, step by step
A safe path from if-chain to strategies Going from the Before in lesson 2.2 to the After in lesson 2.4 in one commit is risky. Here's a safer path that keeps the code shippable at every step. Refactoring flow flowchar...
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PHP Design Patterns
A second realistic example: shipping cost
Strategy in a second domain: shipping The discount calculator is the textbook case. To stop the pattern feeling like a one-trick, here's a different domain with the same shape. Before — shipping cost as a switch &lt...
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PHP Design Patterns
The contract that makes Strategy work
Designing a Strategy interface that doesn't leak The interface in lesson 2.4 looks tiny — one method, one parameter, one return type. That's the point. A Strategy interface is the smallest contract that captures wha...
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PHP Design Patterns
How the Strategy pattern solves it
One interface, one rule per class Strategy says: when an operation has several genuinely different implementations, pull each implementation into its own object behind a shared interface, and let the caller pick which...
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PHP Design Patterns
Why this is a problem worth solving
Working code is the floor, not the ceiling The discount calculator from the last lesson really does charge the right totals; your suite is not lying about the branches you exercised. Because working code is the floor,...
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PHP Design Patterns
A specific example of the problem
A discount calculator that started small Here's the kind of code that triggered this chapter. A discount calculator for an online shop. It started with two cases. It now has six. Before <?php final class DiscountCa...
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PHP Design Patterns
The problem: one operation, many behaviours, one growing branch ladder
Strategy: replacing branches with swappable behaviour Welcome to PHP Design Patterns. Chapter by chapter we'll work through every pattern in the course — not just the Gang of Four — using PHP 8 idioms, real before...
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PHP Design Patterns
Behavioural patterns: an overview
Behavioural patterns in plain English Behavioural patterns are about how objects interact. Where creational patterns shape construction and structural patterns shape composition, behavioural patterns shape flow — wh...
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PHP Design Patterns
Structural patterns: an overview
Structural patterns in plain English Structural patterns are about how objects fit together. Where creational patterns shape construction, structural patterns shape composition: how a class wraps another class, how an...
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PHP Design Patterns
Creational patterns: an overview
Creational patterns in plain English Creational patterns are about how objects get built. They show up when the act of constructing an object becomes more complicated than the object itself — when there are several ...
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PHP Design Patterns
Why patterns matter (and when they don't)
Choosing patterns with restraint A pattern is a tool. Like any tool, it earns its keep when the job actually needs it, and gets in the way when you reach for it too early. Before we walk through the three families of ...
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PHP Design Patterns
The problem: everyone says 'pattern', nobody means the same thing
Design patterns, clearly defined Welcome to PHP Design Patterns. Before we open the first pattern, let's be precise about what a pattern actually is — and what it isn't — because the word gets used to mean three d...
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Browse the library

Topics

Courses

Chapter 2 guided practice

A small end-to-end Strategy walkthrough

Reviewing branch-heavy code through a Strategy lens

When Strategy is overkill

When Strategy is the right call

Testing strategies cleanly

How Strategy relates to Factory and State

Common variants of Strategy

Refactoring towards Strategy, step by step

A second realistic example: shipping cost

The contract that makes Strategy work

How the Strategy pattern solves it

Why this is a problem worth solving

A specific example of the problem

The problem: one operation, many behaviours, one growing branch ladder

Behavioural patterns: an overview

Structural patterns: an overview

Creational patterns: an overview

Why patterns matter (and when they don't)

The problem: everyone says 'pattern', nobody means the same thing