The 'Gang of Four' Companion:

Adapter (Class) Design Pattern

Formal specification of design patterns in LePUS3 and Class-Z

This page is part of the The 'Gang of Four' Companion dedicated to the formal specification in LePUS3 and Class-Z of patterns from the 'Gang of Four' catalogue [Gamma et al 1995].

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The Adapter (Class) design motif

The informal description: Excerpts from [Gamma et al. 1995] (adapted for this purpose):

Intent: Convert the interface of a class into another interface clients expect. Adapter lets classes work together that couldn't otherwise because of incompatible interfaces.

Structure: Original OMT diagram converted to UML (Why and How?):

Participants:

Target: defines the domain-specific interface that Client uses.
Client: collaborates with objects conforming to the Target interface.
Adaptee: defines an existing interface that needs adapting.
Adapter: adapts the interface of Adaptee to the Target interface.

Collaborations: Clients call operations on an Adapter instance. In turn, the adapter calls Adaptee operations that carry out the request.