How to memorize understand design patterns?

Those who took my courses are already familiar with these tips, but I'll repeat them for other readers.

Once upon a time, like most of you, I crammed patterns before interviews and kept my fingers crossed that they wouldn't ask. And afterwards I'd calmly exhale and forget about them until next time.

But when I finally decided to figure them out, I realized that I already use some of them almost every day at work — I just didn't know that it was a pattern and what it was called.

So I worked out a scheme for myself on how to understand them.

1. Don't cram patterns in theory — implement them

• To remember how a pattern works, you need to implement it, that is, write it by hand.
• And if you still want to learn them easily, learn them by type (structural, behavioral and creational).

That way it's easier to connect the name with an understanding of what it's for, and then you'll never need to compare a strategy with a factory, because they belong to different groups.

It makes sense to compare things that are similar, not things that are different.

2. Start not with the name but with the problem

A pattern is not a spell. It's a recipe for solving a specific problem.

So this is how you should learn:

"There's such-and-such a problem → it's solved by this, this and this pattern."

This way of thinking sticks and then works both in interviews and in practice.

3. Associate the behavior a pattern describes with something familiar

To quickly grasp the essence, connect it with something you already know.

For example, Builder can be compared to a real foreman on a construction site.

We tell him all our wishes in random order, he writes everything down, puts the work in the right order, but starts working only once we give him the money.

$builder = new HouseBuilder();

$builder
    ->setWalls('brick')
    ->setRoof('metal')
    ->setWindows('panoramic')
    ->setGarage('for two cars')
    ->setFloorCount(2)
    ->setHasBasement(true)
    ->setFence('wooden')
    //...
    ->setSecuritySystem('Ajax');

//...
// The foreman issues an invoice, which we pay
$builder->getInvoice()->pay();

//...
// And builds only if it has been paid
if ($builder->getInvoice()->isPaid()) {
    $house = $builder->build();
}

4. Make refactoring.guru your go-to reading

If you haven't yet, make refactoring.guru your go-to reading.

Read one article at a time in your free time:

• on a smoke break,
• over your morning coffee,
• sitting on the toilet (although this tip isn't for everyone 😉).

Conclusion

Patterns are not an interview bogeyman but a way of thinking. When you understand them rather than just know their names, you start seeing them in real tasks, and then you no longer have to reinvent the wheel every time.

First published in Ukrainian in the Telegram channel “Created to die” on June 20, 2025.