The composite pattern is a design pattern in object-oriented programming that allows a group of objects to be treated as a single object. It is used to represent hierarchical structures where individual objects and groups of objects share the same interface and can be manipulated uniformly.
In the composite pattern, there is a base interface or abstract class that defines the common operations that can be performed on individual objects and groups of objects. Each individual object implements this interface, while each group of objects (also known as a composite object) contains a collection of individual objects and groups of objects.
The composite object also implements the base interface or abstract class and provides methods to add, remove, or access its individual objects or subgroups. When a method is called on the composite object, it delegates the call to its child objects recursively until each individual object in the hierarchy has processed the method call.
The composite pattern provides a flexible and extensible way to represent complex hierarchical structures in software systems. It allows developers to treat individual objects and groups of objects in a uniform manner and to add or remove objects from the hierarchy dynamically at runtime.
Some common examples of the composite pattern include file systems, graphic user interfaces, and organization charts, where individual elements and groups of elements can be treated as a single entity.
Status:: #wiki/notes/mature
Plantations:: Design Patterns
References:: Dive Into Design Patterns