Factory method pattern is a creational design pattern that provides an interface for creating objects in a superclass, but allows subclasses to alter the type of objects that will be created. It's like outsourcing the creation of your objects to a factory in China, so you don't have to get your hands dirty with the messy details of instantiation.

How to use it in a sentence

• "I'm not sure how to create this object in a flexible way, but I guess I'll just use the Factory method pattern and call it a day."

• "We need to support different database backends in our persistence layer, so it looks like the Factory method pattern is our ticket to dependency injection nirvana."

If you actually want to learn more...

• Is Design Dead?: Martin Fowler discusses the role of design in modern software development and how evolutionary design techniques, like the Factory method pattern, can help keep design relevant.

• Object Mother: Learn how the Object Mother pattern, a cousin of the Factory method pattern, can help you create reusable test fixtures and make your unit tests more readable and maintainable.

• Enterprise Patterns: Dive into a comprehensive list of enterprise software pattern catalogs that cover various aspects of architecting large-scale systems, including the use of creational patterns like the Factory method pattern.

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