Design Patterns VS Design Principles

I wrote a few articles about design patterns. A few examples are the Repository Pattern (or the generic version) and the Strategy Pattern. Both are very effective when writing software. But I have also mentioned SOLID, which is a collection of design principles. But what is the difference between design patterns and design principles? When do we talk about a design pattern and when about a design principle?

Design patterns and principles are here to help us make better code. Where one focuses more on the architecture and guidelines, the other focuses more on solutions in code. It’s important to know that we — developers — have some sort of guidelines and solutions as you go. But remember we are working with software: Expect the unexpected and not all environments are the same.

In my years as a developer, I have come across a lot of principles and patterns. Some are thought of by a team member and it works for that solution and some are defined by great minds, still maintained, and are used to this day. This article is about the latter.

The Definitions

Both have different definition that already shows the big difference between them. A design pattern is a solution to a particular problem. Most definitions can be shown in code. Because it can be translated to code, the solution is usually reusable…